William Murphy agrees a one-year contract with Glenavon

William Murphy and David Rainey

Former Linfield defender William Murphy has agreed a one-year contract with Irish Premiership club Glenavon.

The signing of the vastly experienced centre back will fill the void left by the departure of Mark Haughey, who has joined Linfield on a two-year deal.

"William played over 40 times for Linfield last season, which shows that he has kept himself fit," said Glenavon manager Gary Hamilton.

"He himself feels that he has another good season in him," added Murphy.

Linfield boss David Jeffrey had declined to offer the long-serving defender a contract extension.

"He has that winning mentality that we are looking for in the squad and he will be a great asset in terms of working with and giving his knowledge and experience to the younger players but also he'll be a big help to the coaching staff and a great character in the changing room.

"Like Davy Rainey, at no point in our talks was money a factor, they both just want to play football and that's exactly the attitude we need."

Rainey signed for the Lurgan Blues last week after being released by Crusaders.

Glenavon will be hoping to improve on their ninth place finish in the Premiership in the last campaign.