The Halifax Wanderers have signed Canadian defender Julian Dunn to a contract for the 2024 CPL season with a club option for 2025.

Dunn, 23, joins the Wanderers from Hamarkameratene (HamKam) in Norway’s top division.

“Julian is a player we know can come in and right away do some big things,” Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar said. “He has experience at this level, which is a huge plus. He’s agile, aggressive in defending and excellent with the ball at his feet.”

From Toronto, Ontario, Dunn began his career at Toronto FC, making numerous appearances for the first team, TFC II and TFC III between 2016 and 2021.

During the 2020 season, Dunn was loaned by Toronto to Valour FC for the Canadian Premier League’s Island Games. Dunn was a standout player in the competition, playing every minute for the Winnipeg side. He completed 2.5 headed duels and won 1.18 aerial duels per 90 minutes during the tournament, both tops among CPL defenders. Dunn also led Valour in clearances and headed clearances. For his efforts, Dunn was nominated for the CPL’s  Canadian U-21 Player of the Year award.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for me, and I can’t wait to get started,” Dunn said. “It means a lot for me to be able to come back to Canada after being so far away from home and have my family and friends be able to see me play. I’m excited for the grass field, the fans and I know Pat and how he wants to play.”

In December of 2021, Dunn signed a two-year contract with HamKam in the Norweigan top flight. He made his debut in their season-opener against Lillestrøm on April 2, 2022.

Current Wanderers roster under contract:

Goalkeepers: Yann Fillion

Defenders: Julian Dunn, Zachary Fernandez, Riley Ferrazzo, Cale Loughrey, Dan Nimick, Kareem Sow, Wesley Timoteo

Midfielders: Lorenzo Callegari, Aidan Daniels, Vitor Dias, Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, Tomas Giraldo, Giorgio Probo, Andre Rampersad, Camilo Vasconcelos

Forwards: Tiago Coimbra, Massimo Ferrin, Ryan Telfer, Christian Volesky