Birmingham City have snapped up the signature of Galway United and Republic of Ireland under-21 winger James O’Shea. The 20-year-old can play on the right of midfield or as a striker, and scored 10 goals for Galway last season.

O’Shea sealed his move from Galway to the newly-promoted Premier League club today and signed a two-year contract, which could be extended by two further years should he impress.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was prompted to move for O’Shea following the success of Keith Fahey’s transfer from St Patrick’s Athletic last season.

O’Shea joins Irish internationals Stephen Carr, Colin Doyle and Lee Carsley and Keith Fahey at St Andrew’s.

“James is a quick young winger with good feet,” McLeish said. “We had him over to take a look at him last season but it was a a stage where we’d already taken on players on loan and we couldn’t do a deal.

“He came back on the radar quite recently and he’s a good young prospect we hope can be a future star.

“We took a bit of a gamble with Keith Fahey coming over last year and he’s been a revelation. He was excellent in our bid to get back to the Premier League. He was one of the main catalysts.

“James is not for going into the team right now. We felt he was worth a wee shout because he didn’t cost the earth but is hopefully one we can turn into a top player.”