CHESTER have welcomed Connell Rawlinson back to The Deva Stadium.

Central defender Rawlinson has put pen to paper on a one-year-deal after his departure from EFL League Two side Notts County.

The 32-year-old is returning to the club he made his professional debut for as a substitute against Oxford United back in 2009.

After making three first-team appearances for the Blues, he went to The New Saints, where he won seven Cymru Premier League titles and made 180 appearances.

Rawlinson signed for Port Vale in 2018, while he turned out 153 times for Notts County in the National League and League Two.

He helped County to gain promotion back to the Football League in 2023 with a Wembley National League play-off final victory over Chesterfield.

Blues' boss Calum McIntyre told the club's website: “Firstly, I am absolutely delighted to have added a player of Connell’s pedigree to the group.

“The perfect circumstances have developed to allow us to secure an EFL centre half of enormous personality and physical presence. It is something we have wanted to do all summer so I am pleased to have finally got this one over the line.

“He will really upskill the group and I expect his leadership qualities to be massive across the group. We now have the personnel to be flexible in a back three or a back four and have several players who are extremely comfortable in multiple positions. This was always going to be important in a smaller group.”

As for further targets, McIntyre added: "We would like to add one more forward to the group but I cannot stress enough that we have to act within our budget.

"We are not in the same world as clubs that pay four figures per week and this rules out a number of potential forward targets that have arisen this summer.

“We are keen to do something and are prepared to be patient and act closer to the start of the season if necessary to get the right player.

“'20 goals a season' strikers don’t grow on trees and they come at a premium and this club have certainly seen how hard signing the right ones are in the last 7/8 seasons.”