Rory Patterson on his way to Crusaders
The former Coleraine and Linfield forward is expected to link up with Stephen Baxter’s Irish League champions on a one-year contract.
The Crues have been on the look-out for a striker since Jordan Owens sustained a pulled hamstring that is likely to keep him out of the club’s first four fixtures of the Danske Bank Premiership season.
The club had a bid turned down by Coleraine for 22-year-old Jamie McGonigle but have now moved for Patterson instead.
Such is the need for a potent force up front in their record scorer’s absence, the Strabane man may slot straight into the line-up for Monday evening’s season-opener at home to Ards.
Patterson netted seven goals during Derry City’s SSE Airticity League campaign so far but has recently lost his place in the starting line-up to summer-signing Ally Roy.
Patterson netted 30 goals for Coleraine during the 2009/10 Irish League season and, after a spell at Plymouth Argyle, played for Linfield for half a season, joining Derry in January 2012.
He has been capped four times by Northern Ireland.
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