Irish League club chairman insists 'we won’t stand in way' of star striker amid Premiership transfer interest
Armagh City chairman Ryan Kelly has revealed a host of clubs have shown an interest in star striker Igor Rutkowski ahead of the January transfer window – and insists the Championship outfit won’t stand in his way of pursuing a top-flight opportunity.
The 21-year-old has been City’s standout player since joining permanently from Portadown ahead of last season, scoring 21 goals in 35 league appearances during the 2024/25 campaign.
He scored 11 throughout the previous season while on loan with Knockbreda and Armagh and netted another seven so far this term.
Rutkowski’s form hasn’t gone unnoticed by Premiership clubs with a number of teams showing early interest in acquiring his services next month.
While Kelly attempted to tie down the club’s talisman to a new contract, he respects Rutkowski’s ambition to play at the highest level and hailed him as the “ultimate professional”.
"In terms of interest, there has been a couple of calls over the last few days in relation to him,” said Kelly. “He wants to push himself on to try and get to the Premiership...the club won’t stand in his way.
"Reluctantly, we want to see if there’s something in January that interests Igor. He’s the ultimate professional and gives everything at training, but we had a chat and there are clubs interested in him.
"He wants to push himself on and the club and I aren’t going to stand in his way. It’s always good to push somebody on to see how far they can get.
"He came in on loan and scored seven goals and then last season he was brilliant. He scored more than 20 and was a different animal.
"He started off this season with a few niggles but got rid of them and scored another seven. I would say he’s looking to push himself on, but he said last night ‘I’m not done scoring for Armagh yet’. His mentality is brilliant.”
Rutkowski has previous Premiership experience having made his Portadown debut against Carrick Rangers in April 2022 before racking up another 10 appearances the following season.
Rather than force the youngster to remain at Holm Park until the end of his contract this summer, Kelly will wish Rutkowski well if the right opportunity comes along – and would love to see him back at Armagh if they achieve their dream of Premiership promotion in the coming years.
"Igor has been brilliant,” he added. “He only has six months left on his contract...we tried to get him to re-sign and there was no messing about, he was clear that he had an urge to play at a higher level and we won’t be in the Premiership this season or next.
"I admire people who want to push themselves on and hopefully he’ll get himself a club in the Premiership and when we’re there in the next four of five years he will come back to us!
"You always check up on former Armagh players and how they’re getting on...football is a small industry and you never burn bridges. You always like to see people succeed and celebrate their success.”