Ryan McGivern: Northampton Town sign Northern Ireland defender on deal until January

Ryan McGivern played just 18 times for Shrewsbury after joining them at the start of last season

Northampton Town have signed Northern Ireland centre-back Ryan McGivern on a deal than will run until January 2018.

The 27-year-old, who began his career at Manchester City, was released by Shrewsbury Town at the end of August.

Having had loans at Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Bristol City, he moved to Hibernian in 2013, before a two-year stint at Port Vale.

"If I get a chance, it's down to me to take that opportunity," McGivern told BBC Radio Northampton.

McGivern, who has 24 caps for his country, has been training with League One side Northampton for the past few weeks.

"I feel we need to strengthen the squad in the central defensive areas and he will come in to do that," manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said.

"With Regan Poole playing a lot of his football in midfield recently and with Leon Barnett recovering from injury, while Ash Taylor and Aaron Pierre have done very well, they have had to play a lot of football recently and haven't had the benefit of competition for their places.

"Ryan coming in provides that and, with him having been on the training ground with us for a while, we have had the chance to have a look at him and he has already fitted in well with the group."

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