Stephen Bradley has confirmed that Danny Mandroiu is on the verge of leaving Shamrock Rovers for English League One side Lincoln City.
The 23-year-old played his last game for the Hoops in their 1-0 win over Bohemians, whom he joined Rovers from in December 2020, a fortnight ago.
With the talented attacking midfielder out of contract at the end of this season, Lincoln, managed by former Republic of Ireland international Mark Kennedy, have got Mandroiu for a nominal fee, as per his contract when signing for Rovers.
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“No, I don’t think so. I think he will go soon enough,” said Hoops head coach Bradley when asked if Mandroiu is likely to play for Rovers again.
Currently sidelined with an ankle injury, Mandroiu, along with Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Neil Farrugia, wouldn’t have featured in tomorrow evening’s Champions League, first round, first leg against Hibernians of Malta at Tallaght Stadium anyway.
“Yes, it looks like it,” added Bradly on Mandroiu's destination being Lincoln, the club the Rovers boss turned down the opportunity to manage two months ago.
“He’s done his medical and everything and they’re just discussing the other stuff.
“I don’t want to see him go, obviously, but he’s up at the end of the year.
“He’s been brilliant for us. He came in and you hear all these stories that he’s this or he’s that, but he has been fantastic for us both on and off the pitch.
“I couldn’t speak highly enough of him. He was brilliant to work with and we wish him the very best because he has got great ability. And I hope he shows it. He's top class."
On losing Mandroiu for relatively little, Bradley said it was simply a business decision given Mandroiu’s contract.
“Sometimes it’s just unfortunate that sometimes contracts do run down," explained Bradley.
“Both parties have tried over the last while to get him to stay.
“We’ve been really good and the club has been good at transfers over the last five years, protecting ourselves with long contracts and understanding where we are in the food chain in terms of selling players.
“That’s not an issue. You have to accept that and understand that.
“We’re fine with that, it’s about trying to build that market for yourself and I think we’ve done OK.
“I couldn’t say a bad word about Danny. He’s been brilliant to deal with, it's just one of those things.
“He wants to challenge himself somewhere else and, yeah, we just thank him for what he's done and wish him the best.”
Knowing this might be down the line, Bradley and his staff had already begun searching for a replacement.
“We’ve been looking for the past few months because you always have to plan what’s coming,” said Bradley.
“This has always been in the background. We’ve been looking quite a bit, but it has to be the right one.
“If it’s not the right one then we will wait until January. We won’t panic. We’ve got Rory (Gaffney), Graham (Burke), Aaron (Greene) and Aidomo (Emakhu).
“We’re OK there, but if the right one comes we will definitely look to add.”
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