BURTON Albion can confirm the loan signing of midfielder Sean Clare from Oxford United for the rest of the 2020/21 season, subject to EFL approval.
The 24-year-old becomes the second signing made by manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink following his return to the club on January 1 with defender Hayden Carter arriving on loan from Blackburn Rovers last week.
Clare returned to English football with Oxford in the summer, having spent two years at Heart of Midlothian, where he was briefly teammates with fellow Albion midfielder Ryan Edwards.
The versatile midfielder spent five years in Charlton Athletic's youth system, eventually joining the Nike Academy before being signed by Sheffield Wednesday in 2017.
Clare scored once in five games for the Owls while also having productive loan spells at Bury, Gillingham and Accrington Stanley. He then moved to Hearts in the summer of 2018, scoring 12 times in 71 appearances, before moving to the Us, for whom he has made 20 appearances this term.
Manager Hasselbaink is pleased to get Clare in on loan, and expects him to battle for a midfield spot.
Hasselbaink said: "Sean's coming in on loan from Oxford to compete for a midfield position. He's box-to-box, very energetic and very athletic.
"I feel we need more legs in the midfield, and he's definitely giving us that. He's somebody who has played Championship football and has largely played in the SPL.
"He will be in the squad of 18 or 19 against Ipswich (after) he trained today. Tuesday is a tough day for us and he came through that."
Clare sat down with iFollow Brewers after having that first training session on Tuesday morning, and is excited to get started.
Clare said: "It was a tough session (this morning) - tough but good! All the things the manager is working on are things that we need to do in the games, and how we need to play.
"I’ve spoken to him a couple of times. He sees me as a central midfielder and that’s where I see myself - someone who can be box-to-box, get forward but also get back and help the team defend.
"I like getting on the ball, driving with it and hopefully I can chip in with some goals and assists to help us up the table."
Sean will be wearing squad number 28 during his time at the Pirelli Stadium. Welcome, Sean!