Terry Taylor explains his injury situation after rejoining Cobblers

The midfielder limped off during May’s 1-1 draw with Wigan at Sixfields before undergoing surgery in the summer. He spent weeks recovering at Charlton but he’s now fit and hopes to feature against Southampton in tonight’s Carabao Cup tie.

"I'm sure everyone knows that I had an injury and I've been doing my rehab,” said the 24-year-old. “I'm feeling really good. I feel strong and fit and I have to thank the physios that looked after me at Charlton and my surgeon who did the operation. They did a magnificent job. You never want to be injured but when you are, it's good to know you're in safe hands so I'm very thankful to them.

"I've put in a lot of work over the summer, I've not really stopped to be honest! But I wanted to get myself back to where I was last season and in a place where I could play games as soon as possible. I think that'll happen sooner rather than later, hopefully a lot sooner than fans might think. I've seen a few things online that suggested I'm out for another couple of months but I'll be in contention when the manager thinks it's right and I'll be ready to play.”

The 14th signing of a busy summer, Taylor comes into a very different Cobblers team that he left behind at the end of last season.

"It's a new look to the team and the manager has gone in a different direction and I trust him,” he added. “I've not actually trained with the boys so I haven't seen what everything's like. I'll have to see how it goes but I trust the manager and he's brought in the right characters from what I've heard. I'm sure we'll all be pulling in the same direction and that's what you need in this league.

"If you can get a team of good people together who are all working hard, that's half the battle. I'll meet the boys this week and I'm sure all the decisions that were made in the summer were done for the right reasons."