Promising Irish winger earns move to Championship

"We are very excited about what he will bring to the team."

22-year-old Irish winger Anthony Forde has secured a move from League One side Walsall to Rotherham United in the Sky Bet Championship. The Limerick native enjoyed two seasons with Walsall as a regular after he was signed as a teenager by Wolves. He spent five years at Wolves, making 21 appearances in his final two seasons at the Midlands club. He has six Premier League appearances [2011/12 season] from his time at Wolves. He had a brief loan spell at Scunthorpe but Walsall offered him good terms in 2014 and he repaid their faith. In two seasons, he made 78 appearances, scored seven goals and contributed 10 assists. Forde has represented Ireland through the underage system and scored two goals in his 11 outings for Ireland U21s. He was on the same team as Aston Villa's Jack Grealish. New Rotherham manager Alan Stubbs was so impressed by Forde that he made him the club's first signing under his stewardship. The former Celtic and Everton player, who led Hibernian to Scottish Cup success last season, commented:

"It is a good to be able to announce that we have got Anthony over the line, and what we’ll find is that we have got a young, exciting player. He is quick, he likes to dribble with the ball and we are very excited about what he will bring to the team. "He had a great season at Walsall, contributing significantly with goals as well as assists and we are really excited about what he can bring to the club."

Forde, who played underage football for Ballingarry, joined the Rotherham squad at their Roundwood training base for some preseason training, on Thursday. A solid start to life in the Championship and Forde will definitely pop up on the radar of Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane.