St Mirren seal loan signing of Aston villa talented player

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson has landed his primary goalkeeping target for next term after completing the signing of Ellery Balcombe on a season-long loan from Brentford.

The 24-year-old came through the ranks with the Bees but has made only one appearance for his parent club, with the majority of his senior game time coming during loan stints at Boreham Wood, Viborg, Doncaster, Burton, Bromley and Crawley.

Robinson was quick to earmark Balcombe as his preferred choice to come in as a replacement for Zach Hemming, who has returned to Middlesbrough after his own impressive campaign on loan in Paisley.

Ellery is someone I’ve really liked,” the manager told Saints’ website.

“I’ve watched Ellery for a while. His distribution is very good, he’s commanding in his box and I believe he’s someone that will enhance our already good record of goalkeepers.

“We were keen to keep Zach but we spoke to Middlesborough and he’s their player so we have to respect that. He’ll go back for pre-season and fight for a number two jersey there, but we already knew that would come

Balcombe is Saints’ second new signing of the summer after they announced the arrival of former St Johnstone and Fleetwood defender Shaun Rooney this week.

“I believe we need another centre midfielder,” added Robinson. “We perhaps need another forward player with a little bit more pace just to give us something different.