Cathal Heffernan set for switch from AC Milan to Newcastle

CORK'S Cathal Heffernan is set to join to Premier League side Newcastle United from AC Milan.

The 18-year-old, who came through the Ringmahon Rangers and Cork City academy, was linked with a move to Hellas Verona but now he is on the way to the north-east of England.

Heffernan originally went to AC Milan in January 2022 on loan from Cork City, and that deal was made permanent after just six months.

The transfer was the first of the ‘Brexit Generation’ that saw young Irish players move to clubs belonging to EU countries when they are 16 as they cannot transfer to teams in the UK until they are 18.

The defender admitted that this was the case in a special segment that was aired on Sky Sports.

“If Brexit hadn’t happened, I probably could be in England right now,” he said.

“Because of Brexit, I had to look for another route. I’d been on a couple of trials in Italy here - and then, thankfully, I landed this one in Milan, so it changed my life completely,” he added.

Heffernan played in the famed AC Milan academy after he moved to Italy from Cork City. Before that he was attached to the Rebel Army’s U17s and won a league title with the club by helping them beat Galway United 2-1 in October 2021.

The defender went from there to the first team, and he made his senior debut on the final night of the 2021 League of Ireland season.

He came on and replaced Jonas Hakkinen in the 73rd minute and was on a team that enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Galway United.

Heffernan is an esteemed Republic of Ireland underage international, and he was on the squad that qualified for the Elite Round of the 2022 U17 European Championships.

They faced Poland, North Macedonia, and Andorra and collected seven points from the games that were played at Turner’s Cross.

In addition to work done for his club and country, Heffernan was on the Douglas Community School team that won the 2020 Munster Schools Senior Cup.

This is another success story from the Ringmahon Rangers academy, the club that produced Republic of Ireland internationals Alan Browne and Caoimhín Kelleher. The Ringers also helped nurture the talents of Crystal Palace striker Franco Umeh and Derry City’s Adam O’Reilly.

The defender has close ties to the club, he can regularly be seen presenting awards to academy players.

Newcastle have experience of working with young Irish players, they recently integrated Alex Murphy into their first team. The 19-year-old moved to the club from Galway United in 2022 and he graduated to the squad managed by Eddie Howe this summer.