Rhys Marshall joins Glentoran

The 25-year-old won the League of Ireland title with Rovers after joining them from Glenavon.

Head Coach Mick McDermott is delighted to bring the versatile player to The Oval.

“This is a great signing for Glentoran," he told the club website. "Paul Millar worked very closely with him throughout his carer at Glenavon and Gary Hamilton is on record as saying Rhys is the best player he has every played with.

"Given Gary’s career, praise doesn’t come any higher than that. Also Rhys was clear from the start that he didn’t want to get involved in speculation or a bidding war as he was only interested in joining us at Glentoran.

"His enthusiasm for what we are doing here was evident from the first minute we spoke to him.

"I know there is an expectation of immediate success at our club, but Rhys is typical of the sort of player we want here – young, highly talented, highly professional and completely committed to the major project here to take this club right back to the top of Irish football and – even more importantly – keep it there.

"We want the best possible young players at the Oval as we continue with our project.

"The lads we’ve signed in recent months and the contracts we’ve extended demonstrate clearly what strategy we have in place.

"Rhys is the latest very exciting addition to what will be the best squad in Ireland, north or south.”