Former Sunderland defender Jordan Willis hoping to get his career back on track at Cobblers

Cobblers new boy Jordan Willis is ready to ‘hit the ground running’ after joining the club on a free transfer last week.

The 29-year-old has come in to provide more options for Jon Brady on the back-line following injuries to Jon Guthrie and Max Dyche, and he was immediately named in the squad when Northampton visited Shrewsbury on Saturday.

"I’ve already been here for a while and it’s going well so far,” said Willis, who had been without a club since leaving Wycombe at the end of last season. “It’s been good to get some training under my belt and meet with the lads. They seem a great bunch and now I’ve signed a deal I can’t wait to get going.

"The club’s in a good place and you can tell that from just one week of training. You can see the quality of the squad and hopefully I can add to that and help the club progress.”

After seven largely successful years at boyhood club Coventry, Willis was enjoying a decent spell with Sunderland when he ruptured his knee ligaments in 2021, which effectively kept him out of the game for two years.

But the central defender signed a short-term deal with Wycombe at the start of this year and played nine times for the club in League One before being released in May.

He added: "I came through as a 17-year-old at Coventry and then continued playing there until I was about 24 before I spent two seasons at Sunderland.

"There was the COVID season and then had the injury but I had a good six month at Wycombe last season after joining in January. I managed to play a good few games and now I’m feeling fit and feeling well and I’m ready to hit the ground running.”

And Willis already knows a couple of faces at Northampton, adding: "I know a couple of the lads. I’ve had two spells with Burgey at Sunderland and Coventry and I played alongside Haynes at Coventry as well. We all came through around the same time at Coventry so it’s been good to see them again.”