Vancouver Whitecaps added former Irish international Andy O'Brien to their squad this morning.
The 33 year old free agent, comes to Vancouver having played the last two seasons with Leeds United, and comes with a wealth of experience at both club and international level.
He has played for Bolton, Portsmouth, Newcastle United and Bradford City in the English Premiership and was in Ireland's 2002 World Cup Squad.
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Yorkshire born O’Brien started his footballing career in the Leeds United youth system but was released from their academy at age 14, before soon being picked up by near neighbours Bradford City.
O’Brien quickly worked his way into the Bantams first team and played an important part in the team’s promotion to the Premiership in the 1998/99 season and their two seasons in the top flight.
With City facing relegation, O’Brien made the move to Newcastle United in March 2001 where he remained for just over four seasons under Vancouver Royals legend Bobby Robson.
He played in the Champions League whilst with the Magpies and also earned his first international cap.
As his form dipped and he lost his place in the starting eleven, O’Brien made the move to first Portsmouth and then Bolton, but hampered by injuries he ended up out on loan with Leeds United, before making the move permanent.
O’Brien holds dual Irish and British citizenship, but despite playing for England at U18 level he opted to play for the Republic of Ireland, going on to make 26 appearances and scoring one goal over a six year international career which included being part of the 2002 Irish World Cup squad.
He retired from international football in 2006.
O’Brien comes to Vancouver as a free agent following his release from English Championship side Leeds United at the end of last season, where he had a spell on the sidelines to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2094496/Andy-OBrien-returns-depression-treatment.html" target="_blank"><b>deal with depression</b></a>.
He is currently in town on a flying visit to finalise the transfer and will be heading back to England to sort out his belongings before making the permanent move over to Vancouver next week.
O’Brien is certainly happy to be here:
<i>"I’m very grateful for the opportunity given to me by Vancouver Whitecaps FC. I appreciate the hard work that’s been put in by Vancouver, given the short period of time there was to get this deal done. I’ve had the opportunity to look around the city, which is fantastic, and I’m really looking forward to contributing on and off the pitch."</i>
Martin Rennie certainly seems to like to add experience to the squad and he has that with O’Brien who has played at the top level but certainly seems to be on the decline in his career.
Going in to the season run-in and then the playoffs, that experience can be vital and Rennie seems pleased to have landed the big stopper:
<i>"Andy is an experienced centre half, who is good in the air and comfortable on the ball. He has spent several years in the English Premier League and with some of England’s best-known clubs. Andy also had the privilege of being at a World Cup. We’re delighted to add a defender of Andy’s experience to our squad."</i>
I’m not totally convinced by this signing initially. Is O’Brien an improvement on what we currently have in the centrehalf position? Is he coming as depth or is this the end of Martin Bonjour as a regular starter?
We’ll soon see and will obviously reserve judgement until then.
We certainly do need help back there and as we said on Saturday when we mentioned we were expecting a new defender to join soon, DeMerit and Bonjour need to be put under pressure.
O'Brien will wear the number 40 jersey for the Caps, which was his squad number for Leeds. His usual number 5 jersey being retired here of course for Bobby Lenarduzzi.
Now we have three big centrebacks fighting for two starting spots and that competition can only be good for the Caps.
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