Waterford snap up Brentford midfielder Ali Cootes

Premier Division Waterford have unveiled the signature of Brentford midfielder Ali Cootes ahead of the 2020 campaign.

21-year-old Cootes joins the Blues having played for the Bees since 2017, after joining from Dundee United.

While at Griffin Park - the midfielder featured heavily for the club's B team, as he struggled to make an imprint in the club's first-team. 

“I’m delighted to be here. I’ve family connections to the city through my grandparents, so I know the place quite well,” Cootes told Waterford’s media team.

“I’m really looking forward to getting into the training ground in the next few days and getting to properly meet all the lads.

“I’m lucky in that myself and Scott (Allardice) played together before, so it’s nice to walk into a club and know at least one face in the dressing room.

“I’ve come over with the hope of getting to play first-team football again, and that is something that really excites me.”

Manager Alan Reynolds added; “Ali is a good lad, and he’s eager to prove himself at the first-team level again.

“Obviously, he has experience playing first-team football with Dundee, so he’ll have something about himself on the pitch.

“I’ve spoken with him a couple of times, and he’s bought into the plan we have for the season. We have a nice little squad coming together and I think Ali will fit nicely into the dressing room.



“We’ve been interested in securing Ali’s services for over the last 6 weeks so to finally get him over the line and onboard is a huge coup for us. 

“He’s very hungry for a young player and he gained tremendous experience during his time at Dundee United before moving on to Brentford.

“He really wants to kick on with his career now and I’ve no doubt he’ll become a fan favourite quickly.  

“We’ve got a couple more lads that we’re still working on getting over the line before we head to Inchicore on the 14th of next month, so bear with us.”