Former Doncaster Rovers midfielder Dean Furman could be set to join Carlisle United. Currently, he is training with the League Two club.
The 32-year-old began his career at Chelsea, but failed to make a first-team appearance.
Carlisle United Showing Interest in Dean Furman
Returning to the UK
Now aged 32, Furman is returning to the UK. He has spent the past five years in his native South Africa.
Born in Cape Town, he moved to London as a child. He joined Chelsea aged nine; however, he left at 18. His time at Chelsea coincided with Roman Abramovich’s arrival in 2003.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Furman relived his Chelsea days.
“I was hoping I’d be the next superstar” said Furman.
“But we were signing players for millions at 16. The competition in the reserves was up.”
Furman’s youth team manager at Chelsea was Brendan Rodgers. He is cited by Furman as having a huge impact on the midfielder’s career.
Life After Chelsea
With Furman’s Chelsea career drawing towards a close, Rodgers organised him a trial at Celtic. Ironically, several years later, Rodgers went on to have huge success as Celtic’s manager. However, Furman was not a part of this – as in another irony – it was Celtic’s arch-rivals Rangers who signed him from Chelsea.
After three years at Rangers, Furman returned to the English Football League. First, a loan spell at Bradford City, before joining Oldham Athletic permanently in the summer of 2009.
Oldham made Furman their captain. So good were his performances, South Africa called him into their international squad in 2012.
In March 2013, he joined Doncaster Rovers, initially on loan. However, he later signed permanently. Rovers ended the 2012/13 season in dramatic style by winning promotion and the League One title in the final minutes of their winner-takes-all game against Brentford.
Furman enjoyed two years at Doncaster before returning to South Africa. During his time at Doncaster, he became their most capped full international player.
In 2015, Furman signed for SuperSport United. Plenty of good memories have been made during his five years at the South African club. He has won four trophies and appeared in six domestic finals. Furman has also played in three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Carlisle United Beckons?
Currently, Furman is undertaking a trial at Carlisle United.
Yesterday, he played the full 90 minutes of Carlisle’s 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic. His performance was so good, that United are to enter talks with the player.
United’s assistant-manager Gavin Skelton confirmed this to The Cumberland News.
“He (Furman) has trained well, has got experience, and he performed at a good level.
“He did well, so we’ll talk about it over the weekend and take it from there.”
Whether Furman and Carlisle can agree terms is unknown. The one definite is that Furman could prove an excellent signing for one UK club.
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