July 15th 2024
We are delighted to announce the permanent signing of Ben Barron from Elgin City.
The 19-year-old striker has put pen to paper on a three-year contract with us, keeping him at Station Park until the end of the 2026/27 season.
Ben spent a very successful loan spell with us last season, scoring 10 goals in 10 appearances before a groin injury brought a premature end to his season.
He has fully recovered from that now though and is raring to go to begin his permanent spell with his home town club.
Manager Ross Tokely was thrilled to secure one of his top transfer targets for this summer. He said: “It goes without saying we are all absolutely delighted to have brought Ben to Nairn County on a permanent basis.
“We saw what he was all about last season when he was here on loan and being a local lad, he is already a really popular figure with our supporters.
“Ben will bring loads of qualities to our forward line. He is strong, he is quick, he can finish and his all-round game will hopefully cause defences a lot of problems this season.
“He has a lot of leadership qualities as well for a young player. He is always determined to win and score goals – he has a real hunger to get on the score sheet every time he steps out on to the pitch and that will be a real asset for us.
“It was an area of the pitch we needed to strengthen having lost last season’s top scorer Andrew Macleod and with Aaron Nicolson heading off to university, so bringing Ben in gives us a top quality striker and someone who has already been a regular goal scorer in the Highland League despite still only being 19 years old.
“We are all really looking forward to working with Ben and seeing him continue to improve over the coming years with Nairn County.”
He added: “I would like to thank the Management Committee for backing me with this deal and Allan Hale the Manager at Elgin City for his help in finalising everything as well.”
Ben started his career at Inverness CT in their youth academy before gaining his first taste of Highland League football during a loan spell at Forres Mechanics towards the end of the 2021/22 season. After two goals in nine appearances, he made the move to Mosset Park permanent the following season, bagging a total of 14 goals in 32 appearances, earning him a move to SPFL League Two with Elgin City last summer.
After scoring on his debut against St Johnstone in the SPFL Challenge Cup, Ben went on to make a total of 20 appearances for the Borough Briggs club before joining us on loan in January.
Image by Kenny Macleod Photography.
