St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson has confirmed his interest in signing Dundalk centre-back Daniel Cleary in January.
From being denied a Liverpool debut under Jurgen Klopp by a team-mate who admitted inflicting a premeditated training ground injury on him, to being foiled in a cup final by a Saints legend, Courier Sport picks out 10 facts about the Perth club’s latest transfer target.
1 Cleary started his football career with Crumlin United in Dublin, a club with plenty of recent Scottish connections through Andy Boyle (Dundee), Richie Towell (Hibs), Adam Rooney (Aberdeen) and Gavin Gunning (Dundee United and Motherwell).
2 He has been capped for the Republic of Ireland from under-15 to under-21 level and played in the under-19 European Championships.
3 Cleary was getting close to a first team chance at Anfield under Brendan Rodgers, having earned game-time on a 2015 pre-season tour and been named on the bench for a Europa League game in Bordeaux.
Despite being asked to warm-up when Kolo Toure was injured, he didn’t make it on to the pitch.
Rodgers’ sacking a few weeks later effectively ended the Liverpool dream.
4 An injury crisis could have opened a door for Cleary had it not been for a training injury shortly after Jurgen Klopp took over.
With centre-backs thin on the ground for an FA Cup tie at Exeter City, fellow academy product Tom Brewitt deliberately went over the top of the ball to give himself a better chance of being selected by Jurgen Klopp.
Brewitt made the admission in a podcast. Unsurprisingly it didn’t go down too well with his victim.
Deleting the tweet @journeyspod ? Come off it lads… use left the best part out of the clip “Mission Accomplished “ 😂 lucky to walk away from that tackle with my leg in one piece 👍🏼 pic.twitter.com/TG0Ix02xf6
— Daniel Cleary (@DanielCleary21) October 15, 2020
5 When Cleary moved to Birmingham City, the first team manager was Gary Rowett so Callum Davidson will have been able to get plenty of background information from the man he worked with at Stoke City and Millwall.
A bit like under Rodgers at Liverpool, it was thought Cleary was close to a breakthrough at St Andrews when Rowett was sacked.
6 A former team-mate at Dundalk was Adam Morgan, who failed to make any sort of impression with Saints on loan under Tommy Wright. Another ex-Perth striker, David McMillan, is a current team-mate.
7 Cleary nearly ended up playing with Alan Mannus and Ally Gilchrist at Shamrock Rovers after having a month-long trial.
He didn’t forget that Rovers manager Stephen Bradley passed up the chance to sign him.
After scoring in a 5-2 win, he ran towards Bradley, cupping his ear.
The “DOUBT ME NOW!!” follow-up Tweet reiterated the point.
DOUBT ME NOW !! 🤫 pic.twitter.com/yRZ7YVUbHn
— Daniel Cleary (@DanielCleary21) June 2, 2018
8 St Johnstone Scottish Cup-winning legend Mannus saved a Cleary spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out of the FAI Cup final, ending a 32-year drought for Shamrock Rovers.
9 Cleary has seen St Johnstone play and win. Visiting Edinburgh to catch-up with long-time friend, Jake Mulraney, he was sat in the main stand for Daniel Stendel’s first game in charge, which Saints edged 2-1.
One time I come over hes suspended 😑😂 pic.twitter.com/pZCtq1E1kn
— Daniel Cleary (@DanielCleary21) December 14, 2019
10 Cleary has won several trophies at Dundalk, including a league and cup double in his first season.
They recently played against the likes of Arsenal, Rapid Vienna and Molde in the Europa League group stage but were sixth in the League of Ireland Premier Division in the season just finished, 30 points behind champions Shamrock Rovers, against a backdrop of a takeover and supporter unrest.
