Town boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that trialist Kevin Foley is joining the Blues until the end of the season as a replacement for Jonny Parr, who is on the verge of a move back to Norway and Strømsgodset.
"Kevin is signing for us,” McCarthy told the club site. "He’s a great lad. He’s coming in until the end of the season to replace Jonny Parr, giving us good cover and competition for both full-back positions so we’re delighted to have him here.”
Foley, 31, has been on trial with the Blues and played in yesterday’s 2-2 U21s draw with Charlton.
Capped eight times by the Republic of Ireland, Foley left FC Copenhagen in the summer and has subsequently spent time training with Shrewsbury and Reading.
Previously he played for Mick McCarthy at Wolves, having started his career with Luton. Foley, who is primarily a right-back, also had a couple of spells on loan at Blackpool while at Wolves.
Speaking prior to yesterday's U21 game, McCarthy recalled signing Foley when manager at Molineux: "He played against us for Luton at Wolves and at the time we had some good wide players, Matt Jarvis and Michael Kightly, and he saw them all off.
"I signed him on the back of that and he was different class for me. He’s a great bloke, he’d fit in fabulously with the lads, if he’s all right, if he’s fully fit, but he looks it.
"He’s trained with us and he looks the part at the moment, so hopefully he’ll get through the game today.
"He was out playing in Denmark [with FC Copenhagen], he hurt his shoulder and he had to have an operation in the summer. That doesn’t bother me too much. If it was his legs it might be bothering me, but it was his shoulder.
"He’s a gentleman, he’s a lovely fella, he’d fit in perfectly with the rest of the lads. I hope he proves that he’s worth it.”