Carlisle United have secured August signing number eleven as attack-minded player Gime Touré joins the club on a one-year deal [with an option].
Touré, 26, a strong and mobile attacker, began his career back in his home country of France where an eye-catching 2013/14 season for ES Viry-Chatillon earned him a trial with West Brom.
He also played for La Roche, Brest B and Fontenay LCVF in Championnat National 2, Group D in his native country.
The lively front man returned to England in 2017 when he spent pre-season with Wrexham before going on to win a deal at eventual Conference champions Macclesfield Town.
He was with AFC Fylde for the first half of the 2018/19 season before ending the campaign at Sutton, playing 41 games and hitting the net seven times.
Last season saw him enjoy a hugely successful stay with Hartlepool, where he scored 13 goals in just 39 appearances.
Boss Chris Beech said: “Gime is one of those types of players that a manager is excited to work with. He has the ability to be anything he wants to be as a footballer.
“He's got size, he's quick, strong, powerful, and he has the abilities to go past people, and affords us with that real attacking capability.
“He's had a bit of a stop-start career so far, and he’s never really had the opportunity to play league football, even though he’s been desperate to make that step. Arguably his best season was the last one for Hartlepool, where he finished as their top scorer, and in the main he played wide for them.”
“As a player he's another who can play anywhere across the front, which adds real value and competition for places to what we already have,” he added. “He probably gets more attention for the goals he scores, but he's also up there with assists and physically he presents problems for our opposition, because he's got that size, pace and power.
“He's familiar with this part of the world, or more importantly the weather, and that's a big thing for me. I also spoke with our ex-players Gary Liddle and Jason Kennedy about him, who'd both played with him at Hartlepool, and they also believe he'd excel at this level.
“I'm looking forward to working with him, as I am with all of our players. I want to help them get better and with Gime, if we can do that, and it works well, we'll have a quality player on our hands.”
