By Gary Ferry
Ronan Curtis is set to fly to Sweden today to meet with officials from Ostersunds FK before making a decision on his future.
Derry City and Ostersunds agreed a fee for the transfer of Curtis yesterday afternoon, leaving the decision in the hands of the 21-year-old and his family. With the Swedish transfer window set to close tomorrow (Friday), the move is somewhat time sensitive, but Curtis is intrigued by the possibility of a new adventure in Scandinavia, not least of all the possibility of more Europa league football, with the Swedes recently eliminating Turkish giants Galatasaray.
Curtis caught the eye of Ostersunds scouts whilst in Europa League action with Derry City against FC Midtjylland, and, if he is impressed with what the Swedes have to say later today, he will complete his move away from Derry City.
City boss Kenny Shiels, in confirming the deal, insisting that Derry City would never stand in the way of a player’s progression.
“Ronan is considering it and he has to make a decision with his family what he feels is in the best interests for him. It’s a big decision for him to make,” he told the Derry News.
“We will not stand in the way of young players furthering their career and that’s the message we want to send out. This is the pathway we want to create for young players. We have to make sure that young players about the city understand that Derry City is a club which promotes young players getting a career out of football, not just with Derry City, but further than that, and if they excel the way Ronan Curtis has done then we will support them 100%.”
If Curtis does leave, he will become the latest Candy Stripes to move on to bigger things, following in the footsteps of Paddy McCourt, Stephen McLaughlin, Niall Maginn, James McClean and Michael Duffy. The door is never closed at Derry, according to Shiels.
“We want the parents of young players to see that we will look after their kids,” he continued. We’ve agreed to let Ronan Curtis go and we support Ronan and I’m sure that this will help the people in the city understand that we are a club which develops players and gives them the opportunity to move on. We have let Mark Timlin go because he wasn’t comfortable, we will let Josh go if they are his wishes and now we are letting Ronan go, if he’s happy, so there’s three players within two weeks, and that’s what we’re about.
“We are a club who wants to do well in our domestic league but we do have a priority to the players that they don’t get held back.”
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