'He would be a great coup for any team at this level' - Chesterfield boss James Rowe comments on speculation linking midfielder George Carline with Spireites

Carline, 27, left Rowe’s former club Gloucester City on Thursday by mutual agreement.

Rowe signed Carline for Gloucester in the summer from Solihull Moors and played a big part in helping the Tigers top the National League North.

When asked by the DT if there was anything in speculation linking Carline with a move to the Blues, Rowe said: “No, nothing at the moment.

“I saw that he had left, that surprised me because he is obviously a very good player.

“He has played at this level with Solihull, he was in the play-off team that got to the semi-finals a year and a half ago.

“He has got experience at this level, done very well for me at Gloucester, I must admit. He was obviously in an unbeaten team when I left, I think we played nine or 10 and we were unbeaten and he played every game.

“He can play multiple positions. He is a good player, a versatile player, very physical, he brings that aspect to the team and he is a very good human being first and foremost.

“He would be a great coup for any team at this level and obviously the one below.”

In other news, Rowe confirmed that new signings Tom Whelan and Akwasi Asante both penned 18-month deals.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Corey Addai has returned to his parent club Barnsley after a short loan spell at Chesterfield.

The 23-year-old was signed by former boss John Pemberton on a 28-day loan and started the defeats to Altrincham and Notts County while Kyle Letheren was out ill.

With Addai no longer at the club it leaves Town with just young stopper in Dylan Wharton as back-up with Luke Coddington still out injured.

So will Rowe look to bring in a replacement for Addai?

“Potentially, yeah, I can’t really say too much on that at the moment,” he said. “There is no development on that but we are obviously short there - you can’t go with one goalkeeper. Dylan (Wharton) is still quite a young lad and developing so we will be looking to try and strengthen there for sure.”