Crawley Town boss looking to 'add a few more' after Travis Johnson and Ashley Nadesan deals

After bringing in defender Travis Johnson and getting Ashley Nadesan signed up for another two years, the former Arsenal u23s coach says they will hopefully have some positive news soon on new signings.

And he was also delighted to get the Johnson and Nadesan deals over the line.

On Johnson, Betsy said: “He’s 21, played 20-odd games in League One, played away at Sunderland, away at Wigan in different positions. He is outstanding in 1v1 situations.

“We did a lot of due diligence, research, data and videos, with games we watched before we arrived, also in terms of references with people who worked with Travis and his character is excellent. We have managed to buy a player who will be a real asset for the club going forward.

“We want to get in some young players to help the club progress further but we need experienced players who have played in the league and we have a number of those in the group already.”

Nadesan, along with Jordan Tunnicliffe, was one of the players the club were still negotiating with and he finally put pen to paper on a two-year deal, which was announced exclusively on Twitter Spaces yesterday (Tuesday, June 21).

Betsy said: “We just feel he is a very talented young man and a fans favourite. We know his qualities and I feel we can help maximize his potential and improve himself even more than he did last season and previous seasons.”

And Betsy revealed a number of clubs were looking at Nadesan.

He said: “A number of managers and coaches, when we are doing our work on the group, spoke really highly of Ashley and what a threat he was in games they played against him.

“I know we had competition for him from higher clubs and clubs in our own league so we are really delighted to have him and grateful to get that one over the line.”

And Betsy said the 27-year-old can play a key part this season. He said: “He needs service and service at the right moment, a very willing runner most important it’s his out of possession work, all the players in the group are going to try and play but the out of possession play is so important to us.

"He can drive forward and put pressure in the front end of the pitch and help us regain the ball on a consistent basis.”

And when we asked if there were more signings to come in the next few days, Betsy said: “You never expect signings but we are hopeful.

"We want to bring in the best players we can and that we think will fit our profile and the way we want to play We are looking to add a few more and hopefully we will have some positive news very quickly.”

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