Stuart Kettlewell hopes the signing of Carl Tremarco can accelerate the development of Ross County teenager Josh Reid.
County have high hopes for the young left-back and have promoted him to the first-team squad for the new season.
However, with the departure of Sean Kelly, they were also in the market for a more experienced defender to come in, compete but also educate Reid as he makes his way in the game.
Tremarco fit the bill perfectly. The fact he was recently released by Caley Thistle, where he was club captain, and wished to remain in Inverness made sense from a recruitment perspective, given the issues clubs in the north have with attracting players.
Kettlewell said: “One, we’re getting a good player but there’s also that relocation side of things when we’re bringing players to the football club. It was an easy one for us and Carl, who stays in the area with his family and knows the area as well.
“It’s also position-specific, as we were looking for another left-back. We have a young left-back (Reid) who we think really highly of and we hope we can give him a significant amount of game time this season coming.
“We’ve got a guy in with great experience that’s going to push him really hard and hopefully educate him in his position, how he conducts himself in that area of the pitch.
“You can see a combination of things with a young player, who we’d love to get involved, from our academy, but we also have a vastly experienced guy that may help him along the way and certainly push him with the qualities he has on the pitch.”
Reid, 18, was on the bench for three first-team games last season and played twice in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup.
The Staggies are also on the lookout for another goalkeeper, with only Ross Laidlaw and youngster Jamie Stephen on the books at the moment.
Nathan Baxter returned to his parent club Chelsea while Tommy Dixon-Hodge, who spent the last part of the season on loan at Rothes, was released.
Kettlewell added: “It’s a waiting game for us. We have someone identified and it’s just waiting on another club to see if we can make that happen. I’m not going to say who it is or who the other club is but we’re certainly working away to see if we can make that happen.”
