Derry City sign former Celtic and Coleraine winger Darren McCauley from Inverness

The 27 year-old Top of the Hill man, who returned from a holiday in France last night, has agreed an 18 month contract with the Candy Stripes who have had an nominal fee accepted by the Scottish Championship outfit.

An Irish Cup winner with Coleraine in 2018, McCauley was on the books of Derry back in 2008 before signing a six month deal as a trainee with Celtic.

He made no secret of his desire to return to the Brandywell club last January and had agreed personal terms with Derry before the move fell through at the final hour.

McCauley instead opted to sign a two-and-a-half year deal with Inverness, despite interest from Crusaders and Larne, and went on to reach the Scottish Cup semi-finals, narrowly missing out on promotion to the SPL when losing the Championship play-off to Dundee.

He was able to combine his football career with the latter stages of a Nutrition degree at Ulster University at Inverness where all but two of McCauley’s 16 appearances came from the bench. However, the winger, who scored 45 goals in 176 appearances across two spells with Coleraine, failed to settle in the Scottish Highlands, opening the door for a return to Derry City.

The player arrived at Brandywell early this morning to complete his medical and was delighted to pen a deal which will keep him on Foyleside until the end of the 2020 Airtricity Premier Division season and is available for selection from July 1st.

The deal comes as a major coup for Derry boss, Declan Devine as he looks to sustain the club’s challenge for European qualification and McCauley will no doubt fit nicely into his team having played alongside both Ciaran Harkin at Coleraine and his fellow Gobnascale native, Michael McCrudden at Institute.

Devine is also keen to bolster his side with the signing of UCD striker, Conor Davis while the City supremo claims the club are close to agreeing loan extensions for both David Parkhouse and Junior Ogedi-Uzoke.

“We’re very close to getting an extension for Junior and for Parky,” said Devine. “It’s well documented that we’ve spoken to Conor Davis who is another one we’d like to bring to the club.

“He’s a young player who has come back from England and is interested in pushing on his career. It’s very much our market in terms of young players who have a point to prove and if we can bring him to the club I’ve no doubt he’d be a great addition for us.

“He’s a player we’ve liked for a long time and he would certainly give us options. He was meeting Bohs last night and could end up there. I know when we spoke to him he was impressed by the set-up and the way we do our business.

“The window doesn’t open for another three-and-a-half weeks but to say we’ve been working hard behind the scenes would be an understatement.

“We know we have to strengthen and the way the fixtures have fallen for us has given us a bit of time to have a hands-on approach in terms of attracting people to the club.

“If we can get Junior and ‘Parky’ tied down in the coming days and find another one or two over the next week or two then we’d be in a good place.”