Carlisle United are delighted to announce the signing of Josh Emmanuel until the end of the season.
Emmanuel, 26, came through the ranks at Ipswich Town where he made 23 appearances before loan spells at Crawley, Rotherham and Shrewsbury.
He moved to Bolton in 2019 before joining League One side Hull City on a two-year deal. During his time at Hull, he was taken ill during training which meant he missed over a year of football.
Following his return, he signed for Grimsby Town and was part of the team which reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, eventually losing to Premier League side Brighton. He left Grimsby at the end of the 2022/23 season and has recently been training with the Blues ahead of his signing.
Manager Paul Simpson said: “He’s a player who I’ve always liked if I’m going to be honest. I’ve watched him on numerous occasions so when I heard that he was available I asked him to come up.
“It was such a contrast to what I’ve experienced with a number of other free agents. Josh automatically said he wanted to come up and train, asked when I wanted him to come in and said he was going to drive straight up. His enthusiasm to come was a real breath of fresh air.
“He’s come in and trained well and he’s a really good personality. A contract until the end of the season gives him an opportunity to have a look at us and us an opportunity to have a look at him. If he gets to the levels I’ve seen from him previously he’ll be a fantastic addition to the group.
“He’s a positive personality and a good person, and the more of them we can get inside the football club the better. He’s a real energetic full back or wing back on that right side. With us losing Fin Back there’s obviously a gap there while we’re still waiting for Jack Ellis to get fit. He’s a good footballer and I think he’ll bring a lot of good things to the squad.”
And on any further potential signings, he said: “We’re still looking at a couple of other options but it’s the usual difficulties we’re having problems with.
"I saw an article the other day about all the free agents we could be going for and I think there were four of them who we’ve enquired about and been told they don’t want to come down to League One.
"We have to just deal with that, but we’ll keep working and see what happens.”
Josh will wear number 32 and is now available to sponsor - email commercial@carlisleunited.co.uk for more details.
