Larne owner 'excited to see' star striker 'back next year' amid doubts over future
Larne’s majority shareholder Nick Giannotti remains hopeful that the Inver Reds can retain the services of star striker Andy Ryan for next season – saying he’s “an important person to this club”.
Ryan has played a key role in a golden period of success at Inver Park, firing Larne to three Premiership titles and also scored a hat-trick in their Conference League play-off to create a piece of Irish League history by qualifying for the League Phase of European competition.
The 31-year-old registered a treble as Larne celebrated lifting another Gibson Cup crown in style by beating Dungannon Swifts 8-0 on Saturday, bringing his season tally to 16 in 17 league matches.
Ryan was sidelined with a serious injury suffered during pre-season and only returned to action in late-December, but wasted no time in showing why he’s widely considered one of the Irish League’s best players.
Across his three-and-a-half seasons in Northern Ireland, Ryan has scored 59 league goals, but his long-term future remains uncertain with his current contract expiring this summer.
Prolific Ryan will undoubtedly be a man in demand on both sides of the Irish Sea, but Giannotti, who took over from Kenny Bruce in July, wants to keep him at Inver Park.
"Andy is an important person to this club and an important person to me,” he said on BBC. “He has shown that over the last year and I'm super excited to see him back in Larne next year.”
When asked about his future by the News Letter following Saturday’s victory, Ryan insisted he wasn’t rushing into any decision after a gruelling recovery process.
"To be honest, I really don't know,” he said. “I've been asked that so many times in the last couple of weeks, I really don't know.
"I worked tirelessly every single day to get myself back from the injury, it was exhausting to get myself back.
"My whole focus was getting my hands on that Gibson Cup again. It's been a long, long year for myself personally.
"I'm going to enjoy a few weeks with the family and see where it goes from there.
“When you miss so long, you've always got questions.
"Will you come back? Will you come back the same player? I really, really worked hard to get myself back.
"Once I got myself back, I wanted to really focus on getting this Gibson Cup again – and we got it.”