Brady reveals how he became aware of new signing Nolan and outlines his plans for the defender

Cobblers boss Jon Brady has outlined his short-term plans for new signing Ryan Nolan after revealing how the defender came onto his radar.

The 23-year-old had been without a club since last summer and it took everyone by surprise when his move to the Cobblers was announced on Monday.

Nolan's career was on an upward trajectory when he suffered a serious injury whilst training with Spanish top flight team Getafe last season.

"We were made aware of him through people we know in the game and we had been talking to them about him," explained Brady.

"They said that there was this player coming back from a long-term injury so we looked at his background and I was sent a lot of video footage of him.

"He wanted to come back to the UK so we brought Ryan in to train with us and he's looked very, very good.

"He's played one 90 minutes so far in a reserve team game and he came through quite strongly but it was a bit of a shock to his body because it was his first 90 minutes in a year.

"He will need a bit of time to adjust and get himself back up to full fitness. We feel he is definitely one for the future."

With that in mind, Nolan is unlikely to play much of a role for the first-team this season.

Brady added: "It's more about developing him and he will probably go out on loan but we see potential.

"To be out for a full year and come back, we need to get his minutes up and he needs to get some good game-time but we can't take any gambles within our squad at the moment.

"We have taken him on board now and we may look to loan him out in the next few weeks so he can get a regular run of games under his belt as games and regular football is what he needs.

"He has really impressed us so we wanted to tie him down ahead of possibly securing him a potential loan move, which might be ideal for him at this stage."

Nolan has signed a contract until the summer of 2023.