Diarmuid O'Carroll lauds St Mirren's 'statement signing' Shaun Rooney while club keep Euro stars

Diarmuid O’Carroll reckons Shaun Rooney is a statement signing for St Mirren.

The 27-year-old put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the Buddies last week after leaving English League One side Fleetwood Town.

A legend at St Johnstone after scoring the winning goals in both the League and Scottish Cup finals in 2021, Rooney had offers both north and south of the border.

However, he opted to commit his future to Saints and assistant manager O’Carroll believes his arrival demonstrates the new levels the club has managed to reach under boss Stephen Robinson.

“I think any team in the division outside the Old Firm would be right in the mix to get him,” O’Carroll said.

“It’s a real statement as to where this club is. In particular, it shows the manager’s level. Someone asked me recently whether I was surprised by our success.

“It’s not a surprise for me because it’s no accident the success that players, teams and staff have under this manager.

“He’s a developer of people and Shaun will have seen that, the same way Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain did. They wanted to work for him.

“He drives clubs forward and players forward. He’s demanding, of course, but that’s something that, at 27, Shaun will be thinking the gaffer can improve him. He can maybe push him on to the fringes of the Scotland squad like he did with Declan Gallagher and other players.

“Shaun’s in the prime of his career. He’s coming back up here by choice. He had options in England but he likes what we’re doing here.

“He likes what the manager is doing and he has ambitions. He won’t want to be a steady Eddie here, he’ll want to stand out in the way that got him his move before.”

Meanwhile, O'Carroll feels Saints are in a good place as they begin the close season having retained the services of a number of the squad who helped the club to a fifth-placed finish in the Premiership and European football.

Further updates are expected this week although the management team have said Charles Dunne, Ryan Strain and Keanu Baccus will be moving on. The on-loan duo of Zach Hemming (Middlesbrough) and Hyeokkyu Kwon (Celtic) have returned to their parent clubs.

O'Carroll added: "We're very good as a collective. I think the fact we've got so many renewals done; like Elvis Bwomono, Alex Gogic, Jonah Ayunga and Caolan Boyd-Munce. They were done reasonably early when people were saying we looked like having a lot out of contract.

"Now we've only got three or four. It's hard to get better or even as good as what we had. That's the challenge. But we're confident with our contacts and with Martin Foyle [head of recruitment] that we can keep improving."

Meanwhile, Saints duo Conor McMenamin and Caolan Boyd-Munce were yesterday called up to the Northern Ireland squad for their friendlies with Spain and Andorra next month.

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