Oxford United have completed the signing of winger Ricky Holmes on a season-long loan from Sheffield United.
Holmes, 31, is a familiar figure to most United fans having played against them in recent seasons for Barnet, Portsmouth, Northampton Town and Charlton Athletic before his move to Bramall Lane in January, where he made five appearances for the Blades in the Championship.
Ricky was Portsmouth’s Player of the Season in 2013/14, Charlton’s Player of the Season in 2016/17 and included in the League 2 team of the season in 2015/16. He becomes the ninth new face at the U’s this summer and United boss Karl Robinson welcomed him to the club:
“Ricky has been one of the outstanding players in League 1 for a long time. He scores goals but he also creates plenty and that’s why so many clubs were chasing him this summer. We had serious competition but he wanted to come here and he is going to be another really good signing for us. I want to thank him as well. We were close to signing him last week and there were other offers but he wanted to come here and gave his word, which I think says a lot about his character.
“We started the signings at the back, first Simon Eastwood then Cameron Norman, Tony McMahon and Luke Garbutt, so defensively we look very solid. Then further forward we have brought in Ricky, Marcus Browne, Samir Carruthers, Gavin Whyte, Jamie Mackie and Sam Smith.
"When you also add in Curtis Nelson and Rob Hall, who both missed the second half of last season, then we have a very exciting new look to the squad but everyone has settled in really quickly and we can’t wait to get started now.”
See a first interview in iFollow right now