Soccer: Andy O'Brien moves to Tyneside

Ireland's Under-21 squad member Andy O'Brien has completed a £2m move from Bradford to Newcastle.

O'Brien becomes the latest player to leave the Premiership strugglers after Dean Windass and David Hopkin quit the club last week.

The 21-year-old Harrogate-born player is currently on international duty but will join up with his team-mates when he returns next week.

Newcastle were revealing little about the deal but say they have been tracking O'Brien for some time.

They finally made their move after Alain Goma's £3.5million move to Fulham went through last week.

O'Brien is the latest in a growing procession of players to leave Valley Parade in the last few weeks as City chairman Geoffrey Richmond attempts to slash the wage bill in anticipation of a near certain drop to Division One.

Richmond was nonetheless reluctant to let a man who came through the Bantams ranks as a trainee follow the likes of Hopkin, Stan Collymore and Pether Atherton out of the door.

But O'Brien had a long-standing gentleman's agreement with the club that they would not stand in his way if the right offer came along.

"I shall be forever grateful to Bradford for giving me this opportunity and would like to thank the chairman for keeping his word and thus giving me the chance to fulfil my international ambitions," he told City's official website.

"I would also like to thank the supporters of the club who have always been fantastic towards me. Bradford City will always be close to my heart."

Richmond said: "I have seen every one of Andrew O'Brien's 150 games for Bradford City, and in many ways this is the most difficult transfer I have had to sanction.

"But I can only wish him every success in the future and very much hope that he makes a great success in his football career, both at Newcastle United and on the international stage."

As luck would have it, O'Brien's first chance to pull on a black-and-white shirt could come at Bradford on March 31 when Newcastle head for West Yorkshire looking to get their season back on track.

They have taken just one point from the last 15 on offer and went down 2-1 at home to struggling Middlesbrough on Saturday to force manager Bobby Robson to admit that if they do not pull their socks up quickly they too could be dragged into the relegation dogfight.

O'Brien will find a huge responsibility heaped on his young shoulders if he is thrown in at the deep end with a side which has not kept a clean sheet in 25 games.