Defender Nathan Buddle agrees deal with the Blues
Carlisle United can confirm that a short-term deal has been agreed in principle with defender Nathan Buddle, to be signed on his return for pre-season training at the end of this month.
The big centre half enjoyed an extended trial spell with the Cumbrians at the beginning of this year, which included pitch time in friendly fixtures against Newcastle United, Burnley and Blackpool.
He started his career at Hartlepool but moved to join Blyth Spartans at the start of the 2013/14 campaign. He made a total of 83 appearances for the Spartans and scored five goals during his time at Croft Park. He was captain of the England C representative team which celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Northern League.
United manager Keith Curle said: “We’ve enjoyed having Nathan in the building. He showed what he’s capable of in the first half against Hartlepool last month. The second 45 minutes will have shown him what he still needs to do, but he’ll have benefitted and learned a lot from being involved in a game like that.
“All the key attributes are there with him. He’s a good player, and good players learn quickly. He needs to continue to progress at the rate he is now and he’ll be fine.
“He’s had to adapt and adjust to the professional environment and that will continue. He’ll get a full pre-season with us, which he hasn’t had before, and he has to emerge from that with the hunger and desire we saw from him last season. He has a real opportunity and it’s up to him to grasp it with both hands.”
“The contracts we’ve offered to Nathan and David [Atkinson] are incentivised,” he continued. “They’re short term but they have good incentives in there. If they go the way we think they will then the contracts could extend anything up to two years. There are targets they need to achieve to reach that, so they know they need to be playing games.
“That’s why the contract offers, as they stand, suit everybody. If things go to plan the option is there to extend. If it isn’t happening for them the way we all want it to, then they’ll be free to go and try to progress elsewhere. It’s win-win all round.”
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