Northampton Town have won the race to sign the former Gretna midfielder Abdul Osman on a 2 year contract.

21 year old Osman, who spent a spell on trial at Sixfields towards the end of last season, is a 6ft central midfield player who began his career at Maidenhead United. After drawing interest from Crewe Alexandra, Osman moved to Gretna in the summer of 2007, signing a 12 month contract with the then SPL side.

He became a free agent after the publicised troubles at Gretna, attracting interest from a number of clubs both north and south of the border, with Leeds United, Ipswich and Brighton all linked with him in the media as well as various teams from Scotland.

When a deal to sign for Kilmarnock fell through, Stuart Gray moved to complete matters.

Osman has passed a medical at Sixfields and will join the squad for the start of pre-season training on June 30th.

"Abdul is a central midfield player who has joined us from Gretna and I think he will prove to be another good addition to our squad," said Gray

"We had him here training with us for a few days at the end of last season and that gave us a good chance to have a look at him.

"He is a good athlete, he is over 6ft and he is another young player who is very hungry for success.

"He is a London boy and I think the chance for him to come back down here was a big boost for us. I think the few days he spent with us training also helped and that gave him the opportunity to get to know the set up here.

"He knows the situation here and hopefully like Liam Davis he will hit the ground running.

"I think he had the chance to join a number of clubs and undoubtedly Kilmarnock offered him a better deal but the pleasing thing is that he is not coming here for financial reasons.

"Every player signing is subject to a medical but that has gone through fine and I'm delighted to have him here."