Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley believes that Michael Noonan is ready to play a big part in the defence of their league title beginning with the game against Dundalk on Friday night as the 17-year-old pledges his future to the Hoops, for the moment at least.
The Republic of Ireland Under-21 striker had been linked with a €1.8m move to German Bundesliga side Hoffenheim but Bradley is confident that Rovers fans will get to see the best of him, at least until the summer when the teenager turns 18.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Rovers double-winning manager Bradley admitted that there had been a lot of interest in Noonan from a number of clubs ahead of the transfer deadline and that many got close to the club's valuation of the player.
However, Noonan is content to remain at Rovers until the summer at least when he turns 18 and under Brexit rules he could then join a club in the UK.
Bradley believes that Noonan just needs to keep focusing on what he's doing and keep working hard and improving. He became the UEFA Conference League’s youngest ever goalscorer on his debut against Molde 12 months ago - just one of his nine goals last season.
He scored three times for the Republic of Ireland Under-17s at the World Cup in Qatar in November and also scored for the Under-21s against Andorra.
Bradley revealed that he didn’t feature in the President’s Cup defeat to Derry City on a Saturday in Tallaght because of a knock, but he has trained all week and is ready to play.
"That why he's here," he said. "We can't forget that he's a Shamrock Rovers player, and he's here to play with Shamrock Rovers. The interest in him is great. That means he's doing something really, really well, but Michael's the type of kid that just gets on with his work.
"He pushes all that to the side and just focuses on the job in hand and that's playing for us.
"That’s improving every day. And he'll continue to do that, and whatever will be, will be for Michael. And he's quite comfortable with that."
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