The club can reveal ahead of tonight’s pre-season friendly at Corinthian that Toby Edser has signed for the forthcoming campaign.

The 23-year-old attacking central midfielder, better known to those who hadn’t worked out his identity by now as ‘Trialist A’ during pre-season, joins the Fleet from Aldershot Town where he spent the last two seasons.

Spending his formative years with Fulham and Charlton Athletic, Edser moved on to Nottingham Forest on a two-year scholarship in 2018. He won the U18s league at the City Ground and captained Forest’s U23 side before gaining senior experience on loan in the National League with Woking.

Edser impressed at that level, playing against the Fleet in a 2-2 draw in 2019/20 and again in the FA Cup later that season in the second of two spells at Kingfield.

Following his departure from Nottingham Forest, Edser was snapped up by Aldershot Town and was all but ever present in his first of two seasons in Hampshire, playing alongside both Craig Tanner and Alex Finney at the EBB Stadium.

An intelligent midfielder with playmaking abilities, Fleet fans have already seen what Edser can do since he marked his first appearance at Punjab United with a goal and he has turned out in each friendly thereafter. He has been amongst the squad since the players reported back for pre-season duty at the beginning of the month and together with the friendlies he has played in, he is already well embedded in the club.

It has been enough to convince Dennis Kutrieb of his strengths, with the Fleet boss saying, “He’s a good addition for us. He gives us even more to think about because he’s not someone who wants to be here to be in the squad, he wants to start. He can dictate games, he’s a good footballer and that’s good for me to see because the competition in every position is outstanding. And that’s how it should be. We are very clear what we need and what we want to have here and it has to be someone who can make a difference.”

Welcome to the Fleet Toby!