Cambridge United have announced that captain Gary Deegan has had his contract cancelled by mutual consent and returned to Ireland.
The tough-tackling midfielder joined The U’s in summer of 2017 and made 89 appearances. He quickly became the club captain and emerged as a big fan favourite during his two and a half year period at the Abbey.
Deegan hasn’t featured as yet this season after battling back from blood poisoning and expressed a desire to return to his native Ireland to be with his young family, which the club have allowed.
On leaving the Abbey Stadium, Deegan said: “I would like to thank everybody at Cambridge United Football Club, where I’ve meet some really honest, hardworking people who want to see the Club succeed on all levels.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Cambridge United and to walk out on a Saturday leading the lads was a great privilege. To all the supporters, I would like to say a genuine thank you, as I felt like you really embraced what I’m all about. Good luck for the second half of the season.”
Deegan, who has previously played for Coventry, Hibernian, Southend, Shrewsbury and Northampton, started his career at Shelbourne in Ireland and later featured for Galway and Bohemians, winning two League of Ireland titles with the latter.
Cambridge fans expressed their best wishes to the 32-year-old on social media, as you’ll see below.
https://twitter.com/sharonfairhead1/status/1211996584994594816
https://twitter.com/JoshCornwell9/status/1211980595770707968
https://twitter.com/thom_ohz/status/1211983817352863744
https://twitter.com/DeclanHolt8/status/1211982244203630594
https://twitter.com/xDoubleThr33x/status/1211993806691811328
https://twitter.com/beckylowe96/status/1211989249068871680
