Cobblers boss Curle delighted to land '˜exciting player' Cox in loan deal

New Cobblers loan signing George Cox (Picture: Pete Norton)

Keith Curle says the Cobblers have landed themselves an '˜exciting player' in Brighton & Hove Albion's George Cox.

The 20-year-old has put pen to paper on a loan deal at the PTS Academy Stadium until the end of the season, and on Monday he took part in his first training session with his new team-mates.

A left-back who can also play wing-back or as a left winger, Cox is highly rated at his parent club and he signed a contract extension last month that will keep him with the Seagulls until the summer of 2020.

Cox had been knocking on the door of the Brighton first team in recent seasons, but suffered a real setback last summer when he had to undergo surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat.

The op was a complete success though, and Cox is once again fit and firing, although his progress at Brighton was halted somewhat by the fact he missed the whole of pre-season.

He has been back playing with Brighton’s Under-23s in PL2 since mid-August though, and is now keen test himself in men’s football, with his only previous experience of that being a handful of Checkatrade Trophy matches for the Seagulls youngsters over the past three seasons.

And Curle believes the Cobblers have got themselves a little gem.

“George is a player I have looked at for a while,” said the Cobblers boss.

“It was brought to my attention previously that he wasn’t being allowed out on loan because of how close he was to the first team, but the opportunity has arose now.

“He is an exciting player, a good talent with good ability, and he needs to come out and play men’s football.

“Then it is about him taking the skill-sets that he has got, and putting that in play within our team formation and within our team set-up.”

Asked what Cox brings to the Cobblers squad, Curle said: “He will first and foremost offer competition, and give us balance down the left hand side of the pitch, and he can play in various positions.

“He is an attack-minded wing-back/full-back, and you can play him as an outside left, you can play him as a wing-back or as an orthodox full-back.

“George will give good competition, but he does his work mainly in the final third, and he is able to get the team from the middle third to the final third, with an end product as well.”