Sligo Rovers are thrilled to announce the signing of Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, top scorer in the SSE Airtricity League last season, for the remainder of the 2020 campaign.

The striker moves from Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Hadera and will join Rovers pending work permit and international clearance.

Junior scored 14 goals in the 2019 Premier Division with Derry City, impressing throughout the season during a loan move from former club Colchester United.

He moves to Sligo for the remainder of this season, and will join his team-mates following a two-week period of quarantine.

Junior said: “I’m very happy to be back in the League of Ireland. I really liked the league here and I’m excited by the challenge of coming to Sligo Rovers. I know they haven’t picked up the results wanted at the start of the season and there’s only 14 games to play. I’m looking to take it step by step and win a few games as soon as we can.

“It has been a frustrating year for me. I left Israel when the league was stopped due to Covid-19 and I just wanted to be closer to home. When the offer came in to be back in the League of Ireland, it appealed to me.

“I remember Sligo were tough opponents. My time at Derry was great, getting to Europe and there is good football played in Ireland. This spell I hope to get more goals and help Sligo get up the table for the next months. I’m very keen to be back on the pitch as soon as possible.”

Liam Buckley said: “It’s a very good signing for us I feel, we’re looking for Junior to come in and hit the ground running as soon as he’s eligible to be involved.

“We have some good options in the forward area, Junior can play across the front three and he scored some very good goals last season. I remember in particular he did well against us, so we’re very aware of his talent.

“We know he can be a very good player in this league and we want him to have the same impact here that he had with Derry City.

“The Israeli League is a good standard and I think he would have showed his ability there if Covid-19 hadn’t changed the landscape. It is to our benefit that he wanted to come back to these shores so I’m delighted he is a Sligo Rovers player now.

“We’re still in the market, but there is nothing further to say on that right now. We have a friendly on Saturday in Galway and we’re gearing up for next Friday’s game in Derry. Every game is going to be very important and we’ll need to be ready for a hard game.”