Who is Rory Finneran?

Newcastle United are apparently close to completing the signing of 16-year-old Rory Finneran from Blackburn Rovers!

Here is what we know about the young Irish midfielder ☘️

Born in England to Irish parentage, Finneran had short spells at Man Utd, Man City and Burnley before signing for the Blackburn Rovers academy at the age of 8 years old.

At 15 he captained the Blackburn U14/U15 side to IberCup success in Portugal where they overcame the likes of Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon to be crowned champions, repeating Blackburn’s success in 2018 - a side that included a 15-year-old Adam Wharton.

Rory has been capped over 20 times at underage level for the Republic of Ireland, featuring at U15, U16 and U17 level and often playing a year above his own age group.

In 2023 Finneran captained Ireland to victory in the U15 Torneo delle Nazioni, beating hosts Italy 2-1 in the final.

Later that year Finneran was named Republic of Ireland Men’s U15 International Player of the Year 🏆

In January 2024, Finneran made headlines by becoming Blackburn’s youngest ever debutant at the age of 15 years and 312 days, coming on as a sub in a 5-2 win over Cambridge United in the FA Cup Third Round where he replaced hat-trick hero and fellow Irishman Sammie Szmodics

His appearance also grabbed headlines for another notable reason - due to his age, he had to wear a kit with no sponsor present for legal reasons due to the fact that Blackburn’s sponsor at the time were Totally Wicked, a vaping & electronic cigarette company.

In July 2024 it was reported that Newcastle had won the race to sign the highly rated midfielder after he was linked with multiple clubs in both the Premier League and across Europe - fingers crossed he joins fellow countrymen Alex Murphy, Cathal Heffernan and Reece Byrne in the ranks at St. James Park!!