YORK City’s new teenage striker Shaq McDonald will be thrust into first-team action as soon as the transfer window reopens.

The released Peterborough forward has agreed terms to join the Minstermen in the New Year and will be involved in City’s home match with Dagenham & Redbridge a week today.

McDonald, 18, had his four-year contract terminated by Posh in November despite a promising start for the League One club’s youth team last season when he netted 11 times in three consecutive games after signing from Chasetown.

He has also been on loan to Histon this season where he scored twice in three outings but another temporary spell with Chester lasted just 24 minutes when he was sent off on his debut as a second-half substitute.

McDonald has been on trial with the Minstermen this month, prompting City chief Nigel Worthington to offer him a deal at Bootham Crescent until the summer.

On his new recruit, Worthington said: “He will go straight into the squad because he has got that blistering pace we want to utilise.

“We had him with us for a few days prior to Christmas to have a look at him, and myself and the chairman have decided to offer him a contract until the end of the season.

“We want to give him a chance because he had shown bits and pieces in training and that’s also allowed him to get used to the environment here and the rest of the players.

“He now needs time to adjust to show what he can do.

“His levels of fitness are decent and we will be getting them up to our levels with Dagenham being the first game he will be available for.”

McDonald was brought to Worthington’s attention by Peterborough director of football Barry Fry, who has nurtured the likes of Stan Collymore in the past.

On his discussions with the former Birmingham and Southend boss, Worthington added: “He’s a young player who came up in a conversation I had with Barry, who rates him very highly.

“Barry has brought a few players through in the past and you tend to listen to somebody like him, so we thought we would give the lad a shot.

“He knows where the goal is and has got real pace and good technique.

“He is strong too for somebody who is 5ft 8in or 5ft 9in and has good awareness.”

City have also reportedly jumped ahead of a queue of teams interested in taking a chance on McDonald with Worthington saying: “There were quite a few clubs interested in him and that’s why we decided to move quickly to make sure we gave ourselves the opportunity to look at him first.”