New Zealand defender Nando Pijnaker has joined Sligo Rovers on loan from Portuguese side Rio Ave for the 2022 SSE Airtricity League season.
Pijnaker has been capped at senior level by his country and was part of their Olympics team in 2021.
He has joined the Bit O' Red on a season-long loan move subject to international clearance.
The left-sided centre half turns 23 later this month and has previously played with Swiss outfit Grasshopper and had a loan spell with Danish outfit Helsingor from his parent club Rio Ave.
Pijnaker was born in the Netherlands but moved to New Zealand as a child. He started all four matches in the Olympics campaign and won four senior caps.
Pijnaker said: "It’s fantastic to be here. It’s a move that appealed to me and my main motivation is to play matches and help the team. I know the season is 36 games plus Cup football and European games so I know a chance will come at some point and I will take it.
"I spoke with the manager a couple of times and I was impressed by what he said. He had been speaking with my agent and I felt this was a good opportunity to go to a team playing European football at a good standard as well."
Sligo boss Liam Buckley has brought in a new defender after John Mahon was sold to St Johnstone last month.
Buckley said: "Nando has a lot of what you want from a defender in terms of his height, strength, his tackling and also his distribution as well. He’s coming into a new league but we feel he can do well here.
"We do have Garry Buckley, Shane Blaney, Robbie McCourt can slot in there and young Peter Maguire is coming through, but with the loss of John Mahon it was important to bring in another defender at centre-half.
"He’s come in with a good level of fitness and we’ll integrate him into the group. He’ll be ready to play from the off and it’s great to have him training with us the last couple of days."
Dundalk have added to their squad by signing Lewis Macari on a six-month loan deal from Stoke City.
The defender, who celebrates his 20th birthday today, has been a regular at Under-18 and Under-23 level for the Potters over the past six years and had a brief spell at non-league Market Drayton in 2019.
He was named on the bench for the first team’s final game of the season against Bournemouth last season.
"I spoke to Michael O’Neill, the manager at Stoke City, and he wanted me to come over here and get some men’s football under my belt," he said.
"I haven’t had a proper first-team loan since I’ve been at Stoke, I’ve just been playing academy and U23s football. I need some first-team experience so they thought it was a good idea for me to come to Ireland and try something different.
"The League of Ireland is competitive, it’s tough and it’s completely different to what I’d be used to so it will be a good experience for me, both in terms of football and life in general, to come here."
He is a son of former Stoke City player Paul Macari – and a grandson of former Celtic and Manchester United legend Lou Macari.
"I’ve played in a lot of positions and I’m known as quite a versatile player but I think I’ve come over here mainly as a right-back and I’m looking forward to it," he said.
"Stephen O’Donnell picked me up from the airport and drove me to Dundalk and all we spoke about was football. He likes his teams to play with intensity and that’s similar to how we play at Stoke so I think this move will really suit me."
