Carlisle United have today signed forward Sam Cosgrove on a half-season contract which keeps him at Brunton Park until at least January 2018.
Cosgrove, 21 in December, cut his teeth with Wigan Athletic and has enjoyed loan spells with Nantwich, Barrow, Chorley and North Ferriby during his time with the Latics.
He earned a professional contract when his scholarship ended at Wigan and was released at the end of the last campaign. He has spent the summer on trial with the Cumbrians, impressing with his attitude and approach as he played some part in five of United’s pre-season friendly fixtures.
He bagged a four-goal haul in a behind-closed-doors game on Monday afternoon prior to agreeing his new deal with manager Keith Curle.
The United boss said: “Sam has had a really good upbringing with Wigan and the loan deals he’s had have helped him to experience life away from development football.
“He’s another player who we feel could have a future in the game. I’ve spoken to him and he knows this is an opportunity for him to take the next step, if he grabs the opportunity that’s been given to him with both hands.
“The tools are in his armoury, we’ve all seen that, but he now needs to develop a personality and create his own identity within the game.
“He’s integrated really well with the group over these past few weeks and he’ll have learned a lot about himself and about the way we do things from his time with us at Cassius Camps and Mottram Hall, as well as here through the training sessions we’ve had.
“His time on the pitch with us has shown that he has an understanding of how we want to play and that he can be both a physical and football presence. There are areas where he is still learning the game but he’s shown us that he picks things up quickly and that he wants to push on with his career.
“We kept him with us through July because of that and it’s now up to him to meet this next challenge head on and to stake a claim for a regular place in our match day squad.”
This deal remains subject to the clearance of all relevant paperwork.