Darren Sarll is expecting big things from his first signing of the summer, striker Matt Godden from Ebbsfleet.
Godden was one of the most prolific strikers in non-league last season and Sarll believes he is the right fit for the club.
“What I like about Matt Is that he is another one of them players who has tasted league football and for a variety of reasons ended up coming out and rehabilitating himself in the lower leagues and has done terrifically well.
“It is testament to the type of person I think he is to have put himself in a position where he has become quite sought after. He just really fits the Stevenage profile, going all the way back to Steve Morison who had a similar story up to this point so hopefully Matt can emulate the likes of Steve."
Sarll says that the signing of Godden represents a coup for the club as his goals last season attracted plenty of interest.
“Absolutely. He scored 30 goals last year in competitive games and anyone that scores that amount of goals is of course going to be looked at, especially in the current trend of everyone trying to find the next Jamie Vardy. I am really pleased that we have finally managed to get it over the line.
“On a Sunday morning it is very easy to identify forwards in the lower leagues, you see their name repeatedly pop up in the paper every week.
“We had him watched five or six times last season and knew that when he was going to be available at the end of the season, that we wanted to put our pitch to him. As always our facilities, the people that work here and where he is going to come to work has ended up being a really defining factor in Matt deciding to come to us.”
One of the things that stood out for Sarll after meeting Godden was his confident personality, a trait that the manager believes is essential for a striker.
“He is a real go-getter. What I really like about his attitude is he has got an arrogance, a confidence and an assurance about himself in the way he speaks.
“He has a belief that he is going to do very, very well and every centre forward needs to have that rhino thick skin that drives them up the leagues and onto success.”