Central defender John Egan has left Brentford to join Sheffield United. The Republic of Ireland international completed a move to the Yorkshire side today, Thursday 19 July, after the two clubs agreed an undisclosed fee for his transfer. The 25-year-old leaves The Bees after two years in West London, the second of which he spent as Brentford captain.

Brentford signed John from Gillingham in the summer of 2016 after he turned down a contract with the Kent side. He marked his home debut with both goals in a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town in August 2016 and scored four times in total in his first season at Griffin Park. He was named captain ahead of the 2017/18 season and played 34 games last term, scoring three goals. John leaves Brentford having played 71 games in all competitions for The Bees, scoring seven times.

The defender has also earned full international honours while at Griffin Park. He arrived having played for Ireland at Under-17 and Under-19 level and won six Under-21 caps. He made his full international debut against Iceland in early 2017 and made one further appearance, against Mexico last summer. He has been around recent squads and played for a Republic of Ireland XI in a non-cap match at Celtic Park in May that was held as a testimonial for Celtic captain Scott Brown.

Dean Smith, Brentford FC Head Coach, said: “We are sorry to see John leave the Club. He has made progress as a player since he arrived and I was proud to see him earn his first full international cap for Ireland while he was a Brentford player. The Club has also made great improvements in the past two years, I would like to thank John for his contribution to this and wish him well for the future.”

Phil Giles, Brentford FC Co-Director of Football, said: "Sheffield United have been interested in John for some time. We were happy to complete the transfer once our valuation had been met for a player who has done very well for us and who was our captain last season. The remaining group of centre backs are young but hugely talented so it will remain to be seen whether we need to replace John directly over the final weeks of the transfer window."

John started out playing for Greenwood FC in his home town of Cork and moved to Sunderland when he was 16 to be part of the Premier League side’s youth set-up. He turned professional in 2011 but left three years later without making an appearance for the North-East side. John had loan spells at Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Bradford City and Southend United and then joined Gillingham in 2014 when released by Sunderland.