Stockport County can confirm that it has agreed terms for the loan transfer of defender Ethan Bristow from MLS side Minnesota United.
The former Tranmere Rovers left-back will begin training with the first-team immediately, and will be available for selection once his international clearance has arrived in January.
The deal sees the 22-year-old join until the end of the season as he returns to League Two following a brief spell in the States, having signed for Minnesota in July for an undisclosed fee.
Ethan, who made his debut for the Saint Kitts and Nevis national team in November, played a starring role down the left-hand-side for Tranmere last season, appearing 51 times in all competitions, including all 46 of their league games.
It was the defender’s first season at Prenton Park, having joined from Reading in the summer of 2022. Ethan started his career with the Berkshire side, making seven appearances for the club in the Championship before moving to Merseyside.
Despite interest from Championship sides in the summer he made the move to the MLS with Minnesota, signing a two-year-deal with the Western Conference side and making 12 appearances for the club before their season came to an end in October.
First-Team Manager Dave Challinor said:
“We’re delighted to be able to secure bringing Ethan to the club; there are so many positives to the move from our perspective. We were obviously in a situation where we needed to immediately replace Ibby for the period he will miss due to the African Cup of Nations and it’s a position where we had no real depth with Ryan Rydel being out for the season with his ACL injury.
“Ethan not only fits the profile of what we want for that position, but he can also begin training with us now in order to get him integrated and up to speed as soon as possible. He’s not played for a little while so that will be important, and we’ve got nearly three weeks to do that.
“The other huge positive is that we bring in a player with recent League Two experience from his time last season at Tranmere. He was a real hit there and had a big impact on their team with his performances down that left hand side. We’ve had nothing but positive reports from the people I know there about his character and ambition to improve. We are already enjoying working with him and looking forward to his performances in a County shirt.”
Director of Football Simon Wilson said:
“Ethan was a really impressive performer last season at Tranmere and caught the eye of many, resulting in a international move to what is now a significant league globally.
“He gives us very good options on the left hand side as a really attacking and dynamic player. It’s a great opportunity for us both to look at each other in this initial term, which should be an exciting period. Ethan’s qualities will no doubt help the team be stronger for the second half of the season.”
