Ebbsfleet United have today added adaptable Luke Coulson to their squad ahead of Saturday’s friendly versus a Tottenham Hotspur XI. The highly-rated 23-year-old signs for an undisclosed fee from Barnet where he played 15 times in League Two last season.

Coulson may be more familiar to Fleet fans from his time at Oxford City when he scored a stunning free-kick for them at Stonebridge Road back in November 2015 and another goal to knock us out of the FA Trophy a month later.

His excellent form at Oxford, where he played alongside Bradley Bubb, brought him to the attention of plenty of clubs and he signed for Eastleigh in the National League in January 2016, with a club record fee paid by the Spitfires.

Coulson played alongside Andy Drury for Eastleigh, helping the club to knock Swindon Town out of the FA Cup, before he came to the notice of numerous scouts in the Football League. In January this year, Eastleigh sold him to Barnet, again for a club record fee.

Before joining Oxford City in the summer of 2015, the St Helens-born player spent nine years in Manchester City’s ranks and appeared for Cardiff City in an FA Cup tie.

While favouring a wide midfield position, Coulson is an extremely versatile addition to the squad who is equally at home on the left or right flanks, at full back and in central berths. He will wear squad number 25.

Daryl McMahon told FleetOnline, “Luke has good experience, he’s a player that will be familiar to Ebbsfleet fans. We all know what he was like at Oxford City, he terrorised us a couple of times. He’s another one who’s exciting and direct, good pace and a powerful runner. He’s a good one v one player who can get goals. He went from Oxford to Eastleigh and did really well for them. He was talked of about getting a move to the Championship at the time. It didn’t quite come through for him and it hasn’t really worked out for him at Barnet but he’s coming in here at 23 years old and we’ve got another one at a good young age with so much potential to do very well for us.”