Jack Byrne's "history" with Shamrock Rovers has pushed the out-of-contract Ireland international towards a return to the Hoops as he will be unveiled as their new signing in the next 24 hours. Byrne, who is currently in Dublin, is a free agent after severing his ties with Cypriot side APOEL, and is weighing up offers ahead of his next move. Dublin rivals Bohemians and Shelbourne were keen on the midfielder, who also has options in the UK and USA, but his former boss at Rovers hopes that conversations could lead to a long-term deal and a return to Tallaght.

“I speak to Jack regularly, I know he’s had a lot of interest from the last few months and we haven’t been one of them,” he said.

“I’ve stayed away from that conversation with Jack to give him that respect and allow him to make a decision. The last few days, I’ve had really good conversations with Jack regarding I think he’s much clearer in his head with what he wants to do.

"If one of them is coming home, which I think it could well be, then we’re very interested in talking to him. He knows that, we’ve had that conversation. That happened recently in the last few days," Bradley said today, although he denied that Byrne had already undergone a medical with the club.

"I think Jack has history with the club, we’ve history with Jack. I’ve spoken to him every month for the last three years maybe. We completely stayed away from this conversation with him to allow him space to decide what he wants to do. I think he’s become clearer in his head and that brings into the picture.

"We’ve genuinely let Jack be in terms of not having conversations about coming back to Shamrock Rovers. I know there has been a lot of talk for a long time.

"I’ve allowed him to go through all those processes himself and speaking to him this week he has become a lot clearer in his own head what he wants to do and that brings us into the picture, which is brilliant.

"That’s literally been the last five or six days. I’ve allowed him to go through that process on his own. We’ve kept in contact when he was away.

"He’s in a good place in his head, he’s mature, and he’s been breaking things down.

"He’s done that right up until this week when we spoke to him.

"We didn’t have any conversation with Jack regarding signing here or coming home until the last few days when he became clearer in his head, and that helps us.

"It was about giving him that time and space about making the decision, where he wants to go, what he wants to do."

Bradley also insisted that Byrne would have no issue in fitting back into a side which won the league with games to spare, despite competition from midfielders Dylan Watts and Danny Mandroiu who are, according to Bradley, included with Bohemians pair Georgie Kelly and Ross Tierney as the top players in the league this season.

"No problem, he could play in any team. Dylan, Danny and Georgie Kelly have probably been the three best players in the country. Dylan has gone to another level this year, adding someone of Jack’s quality would be brilliant," added Bradley.