NEWPORT County AFC manager Terry Butcher is confident of adding more meat to his squad early next week after revealing his first three signings.

The new Exiles boss announced the arrivals of Welsh duo Rhys Taylor and Scott Barrow from Macclesfield Town and Grimsby Town striker Lenell John-Lewis this morning.

Neath-born goalkeeper Taylor, aged 25, was previously on the books at Chelsea, while 26-year-old defender Barrow started out at Port Talbot Town before moving on to Tamworth.

Both have signed one-year deals with County, while 26-year-old John-Lewis has signed a two-year contract.

All three were out of contract and have not cost the Exiles a fee.

“I’m very pleased,” said Butcher. “We’ve signed a goalkeeper, a left-back and a striker and we’ve got the skeleton of the team now – we just need to add the meat!

“And we should have a few more next week, I’m very confident of that.

“It’s really pleasing that players want to come and play here and the fact that Rhys and Scott are Welsh is a big plus as well,” he added.

“It’s huge for the fans to have some Welsh players in the team and as soon as they heard that we were interested they wanted to come back to Wales and be part of the revolution here.

“Lenell has agreed a two-year contract because he’s a goalscorer and you want to tie down strikers who will get you goals.

“I like to have continuity as much as possible and I certainly don’t want to be looking for 15 players next summer!”

The capture of John-Lewis, who scored 20 goals for the Mariners last season, is a coup for Butcher.

Wigan Athletic and AFC Wimbledon were amongst those clubs rumoured to be interested in the striker who scored his side’s goal at Wembley as they were beaten on penalties by Bristol Rovers in the Conference play-off final.

“It’s exciting that players like him want to come to Newport and it’s an indication of how far the club has come in the last few years,” said Butcher.

“There were a lot of other clubs in for Lenell and we all know that the budget has been cut here but money was never an issue for him or for Rhys and Scott.

“Lenell is a very good striker who got plenty of goals for Grimsby last season.

“He’s had a taste of playing in the Football League with Bury so he knows what to expect and he wanted to be a part of it here, which is nice.

“He’s strong, powerful and quick and he holds the ball up well and we’re delighted to have signed him up for two years.

“He’ll score goals and create chances for the other strikers who we want to bring in.”