Portadown have confirmed fan favourite Brandon Diau has been placed on the transfer list ahead of their Premiership opener against Cliftonville.

The 31-year-old, who started his career in Bayer Leverkusen’s academy and also spent time in England, Israel, Romania, Iceland and Wales, arrived at Shamrock Park in January and made 10 league appearances as Niall Currie’s side booked their top-flight return by winning the Championship title.

He has amassed a significant following on social media where the centre-back posts updates about his footballing journey – Diau has over 305,000 followers on TikTok while his videos have racked up nearly 10million views.

Diau had signed a new one-year contract in May, telling the club’s website at the time: "I’m delighted to be given the opportunity once again to showcase my abilities. Portadown is a massive club so everyone being lucky enough to wear the shirt should be honoured.

placeholder image — Brandon Diau has been placed on the transfer list by Portadown. PIC: David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press

"I will give it my absolute all once more as when you play for the badge on the front, people remember your name on the back. I can’t wait for the big season ahead which is hopefully going to be a successful one.”

However, it now looks like his time with the County Armagh outfit could be coming to an end with Portadown posting on their website: “Portadown Football Club can confirm that Brandon Diau has been placed on the transfer list. All interested parties are asked to contact the management team or the club’s general manager, Mark Beattie, at [email protected].”

Currie has significantly strengthened his squad ahead of the new campaign, which starts with a trip to reigning Irish Cup champions Cliftonville on Sunday, with the likes of Aaron McCarey, Shay McCartan and Steven McCullough arriving, while defensive reinforcements have been added in Lewis MacKinnon and Jack Duncan.

Elsewhere, Cliftonville have also made another signing ahead of their clash with the Ports by announcing the arrival of former Tottenham Hotspur youth product Axel Piesold on loan from Luton Town.

The 19-year-old midfielder was named on Luton’s bench nine times in the Premier League last season and was also in the senior squad that lost out 6-2 to Manchester City in the FA Cup.

Piesold joins Rory Donnelly, Michael Newberry, Sean Stewart, Luke Conlan and Shaun Leppard as summer signings at Solitude.