First team manager Neil Cox was delighted his side has been bolstered with the experience of Turkish midfielder Jem Karacan.
The 31-year-old signed a contract on Monday afternoon which sees him play for the club until the end of the season, with the former Reading man already in good shape after spending nearly two months training with the Iron.
“Jem has been in the building for seven-or-eight weeks, training really well with us,” Cox said, speaking to iFollow Iron.
Incoming with an impressive CV, Karacan has played in the top three leagues of English football, winning promotion twice, while also featuring in the Champions League for Galatasaray.
In adding the midfielder to his squad, Cox feels he will add a number of things to benefit his young side: “He’s got lots and lots of experience and I think he will bring a leadership role to us and I think our young boys will learn from him as well.
“He’s been excellent on the training ground. His communication has been excellent - the way he drives people on, the way he demands off people and the way he plays just calms everyone down. He’s a good addition to our squad. We’ve got a young squad with a lot of injuries to our senior boys and someone coming in just to help us out in the middle of the park is just what we needed.”
Despite playing in the country’s top three divisions, he’s yet to drop down to the fourth tier, but the Iron boss has no doubts he’ll be able to transfer his career experiences into the new league.
“There’ll be a difference from Champions League football to playing in League Two, but he’s a good player and wants to be here,” he stated.
“He kept coming in every day training and we finally got something sorted out, so fair play to him. You could see on the training ground, he does all the extras and puts in the extra work and that’s good for our young players to see that a player who has had a good career is still working hard and wants to win on the training ground too. It’s an eye-opener for some of our younger lads to see that.”
Scunthorpe next face Bradford City in Sky Bet League Two, with the Bantams journeying to the Sands Venue Stadium this weekend.
Speaking about whether the latest addition will be included in the matchday squad, Cox concluded: “We’ll have to be careful. I know he’s trained with us for seven-or-eight weeks, but he’s only probably done 45 minutes on a full pitch.
“We’ll have a look at him, he’s a fit boy and he wants to get involved and we might have to throw him in, like we have with the rest of the boys, and get his fitness up in games.”
See much more from Neil Cox and Jem Karacan on iFollow Iron.