Twenty seven year old Welsh international Adam Matthews has joined the club on a one year deal after training at Sparrows Lane for a few weeks. He will provide competition for Chris Solly for the right back slot.

Matthews began his career at Cardiff where he made 40 appearances between 2011-13. He then signed a four year contract with Celtic and played 101 games for them between 2011 and 2015, including a Champions league appearance. While he was at Celtic it was reported that Premier league Everton showed an interest in signing him.

He joined Sunderland in July 2015 but his career stalled for a couple of years when David Moyes decided he was surplus to requirements. He was loaned to Bristol City but only played 21 times in two seasons. He  returned to The Stadium of Light and made 57 appearances over the last two years. He was an unused substitute at Wembley in May and Sunderland subsequently decided not to renew his contract.

Lee Bowyer has expressed his disbelief that Matthews, who has 14 full Welsh caps, was still available three months after his release. "He is only twenty seven and has still got so much more to offer"

Head of Recruitment, Steve Gallen, added: “He’s a good right-back who is very attacking and loves getting forward which is something that Lee [Bowyer] was keen on in particular."

“He’s completely proved his fitness and he’s got a good attitude so he fully deserves the offer of a contract and balances out the squad. We wanted two players for every position and now we’ve finally got that".