Declan Devine confident former Aston Villa and Birmingham City youngster 'is going to thrive' in Irish League with Glentoran while star is given 'all-clear' to return
Glentoran manager Declan Devine has no doubt that former Aston Villa and Birmingham City youngster Finley Thorndike “is going to thrive” in the Irish League after showing signs of his obvious talent in recent weeks.
The 22-year-old arrived at The Oval in the closing stages of the summer transfer window after spending two years in Birmingham’s academy and having now got up to speed with the rigours of Premiership football after missing out on a pre-season has started in the Glens’ last three league matches.
Thorndike scored six times in 32 Premier League 2 appearances across spells with Villa and West Brom and missed a golden opportunity to open his Irish League account on Saturday by failing to convert a first half penalty in their 2-0 defeat to defending champions Larne.
However, Devine is confident it won’t be long before Thorndike starts contributing on the goal front and has been impressed with how he has adapted to new surroundings.
"I still think there's room for improvement in everyone but Finley has been a real shining light,” he said. "He came in not having had a pre-season and his quality in recent weeks has been there to be seen.
"We've a lot of young players in our group - Aaron Wightman comes back in and Frankie Hvid has had an outstanding start to his Glentoran career.
"Finley is a very talented boy and it's back to the thing of playing senior football - I've no doubt he's going to thrive here and I see a lot of quality in him.
"It was unfortunate he missed the penalty last week but I've no doubt that it won't be long before we see Finley on the score sheet.
"He brings a lot to us with his passing and ability to break lines. I'm delighted with him at the minute but we know there's more to come from everyone."
Devine also provided a positive injury update on Johnny Russell, who was named Glentoran’s Player of the Year last season, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Glenavon.
The Northern Ireland youth international hasn’t started a Premiership match since the end of August and was absent from the last four matchday squads after feeling the impact of a concussion picked up in pre-season, but returned to training this week.
"We had a pre-season game against Larne for them leading into the European qualifiers and it was a bit early for us but we still took it on,” added Devine. "Johnny got a really bad bang and the concussion has impacted him quite a bit.
"He has got the all-clear. He came back in recent weeks and played a couple of games but didn't feel great.
"He has passed all the protocols and was back in training on Thursday. It's great to get Johnny back in the group because he brings a lot to us and we know on the back of last year how he performed."