Brady explains how Josh Harrop came onto his radar after former Manchester United midfielder signs short-term deal at Cobblers

Manager Jon Brady believes new signing Josh Harrop will bring ‘a lot of quality’ to the Cobblers if and when he is able to get up to full speed after several months without a club.

The former Manchester United midfielder, who was released by Preston North End on deadline day in August, has signed a ‘short-term’ contract at Sixfields having spent time training alongside Town’s squad at Moulton College.

A product of United’s academy, Harrop’s talent and potential is not in question but he is coming off a frustrating 12 months after slipping down the pecking order at Deepdale.

"It was through a connection in our recruitment network,” Brady explained when asked how the move came about. “Josh then came in and he's been training with us for a couple of weeks. Obviously he hasn't played for a while but we are trying to build up his sharpness in training.

"He's a talented player but over the last year he hasn't played as many games as he would have wanted so we have just given him an opportunity and over the next few weeks we will be able to run our eyes over him.

"He has been trying to get a club and he's now got one that will give him a chance. We can see there's a lot of quality within him but we need to get him up to match sharpness because it's been a long while since he's played.

"We spoke to him and asked if he would like to come in and take an offer up until the deadline and he did and I think it's really working well and we feel it's a great opportunity to have a look at him."

Harrop will have to make an impact from the bench initially, with Brady adding: "I wouldn't say he's ready to start games just at the moment. He's come to us with a good level of fitness but before he came to us, he had been training with a personal trainer for a month or two.

"He's now had an opportunity to play with a lot of other bodies around him and that's important to build his awareness and things like that.”