Kenny Shiels insists Derek Riordan could be revitalised by SPL return

Former Hibs and Celtic player Riordan turned out for Kilmarnock in a closed-door friendly against Rangers at Murray Park on Tuesday as he considers his next move after the termination of his contract with Chinese club Shaanxi Chanba in November.

While the 28-year-old’s preferred option is to find another club outside the UK, Shiels believes a brief stint with Kilmarnock could revitalise Riordan’s career in the same manner as Finnish midfielder Alexei Eremenko last season.

Eremenko’s loan spell at Rugby Park was so successful it saw him nominated for Player of the Year honours in Scotland and earned him a lucrative move to high spending Russian Premier League club Rubin Kazan.

“It’s similar,” said Shiels. “Like Eremenko, Derek has got sensory acuity on a football pitch. There are not many SPL players who can see these things. Riordan certainly comes into that category. I feel that we could help Derek get a big move.

“I don’t think it’s going to move on over the next day or two because Derek is still in a situation where he is uncertain of what he wants to do at the moment. He will be back in on Friday and we’ll sit down and have a chat. But I would say that, if he is going to sign for a Scottish club, we would be favourites.

“It is a move which would give him stability. He could stabilise his game and get everything else sorted out in his head with what he wants to do.

“It’s four or five months to go out and play football. I see it so much in certain players, they are like street footballers. They are not happy unless they have got the ball. All the other stuff, the politics in football, they don’t want to know anything about that.

“Derek is a very football-orientated boy. He’s just a natural footballer, that’s all he wants to do. So he probably needs time to get the other stuff out of his head and play for a club that allows him to express himself. Where he can play to his strengths and go and play in the last third of the pitch. That’s it, no mad information about tracking the full-back or making sure he is behind the ball. There won’t be any of that with Derek. You just tell him to play, because he’s got intelligence.”

Shiels insists Kilmarnock can afford a move for Riordan, even after completing the signing yesterday of another former Hibs player, his son Dean, and securing Chelsea left-back Ben Gordon on another loan deal.

“Derek is well within our limit financially,” said Shiels. “He will make fantastic compromises because he wants to play football. He is not worried about money at the moment. I would see him as a great addition, to team him up with Dean. They played together many times at Hibs.

“Dean and Derek had a telepathic understanding of how to co-ordinate movement and attacking patterns. They are so good together. They are intelligent footballers. Along with the intelligence of Gary Harkins and Paul Heffernan, it would lend itself to a good attacking system.”

Riordan has not played a competitive match since 15 October but Shiels believes he could return to match fitness in the next month if he joins Kilmarnock.

“I would say he is three or four weeks away,” added Shiels.

“He played for us against Rangers at Murray Park this week and I told him to basically use it as a fitness session. That’s what he did. He did well in patches but he was also playing with a lot of young kids, so it wasn’t easy for him.”

Shiels is hopeful the prospect of winning silverware during a brief spell in east Ayrshire might assist him to persuade the player to sign. Kilmarnock face Ayr United in the semi-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup at Hampden at the end of this month.

“There’s possibly the chance of playing in a cup final and that’s a big incentive for any player,” said Shiels. “I just think Derek’s personality would suit us and I’d put us top of the list if he is going to sign for a Scottish club.”