Rothes Football Club manager Ross Jack excited by new signing Callum Haspell's Spanish football education but fears serious injury for star striker Aidan Wilson
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Ross Jack believes Rothes have signed a top quality player in defender Callum Haspell.
The 20-year-old was on the books of Caley Thistle and Clach as a youngster, earned a scholarship at Salem University in West Virginia, USA, then moved to Malaga in Spain to play at the CD Almunecar City international football academy.
Now back in Scotland, the Inverness-based player impressed on a trial with Rothes and has signed for the remainder of the season.
Haspell made his debut in the Speysiders' 1-0 defeat to Brora Rangers on Saturday.
Jack said: "He will be a great acquisition. He’s a very cultured defender, he likes to get on the ball and make passes, very typical of the Spanish football education and he likes to be involved in the game.
"Callum’s a fit lad, big and strong and I’m delighted to get him on board.
"He was brought up in Inverness and came through the Clach system and was at Caley as well.
"He went off to the team in Spain and had his football education out there and did extremely well. He spent two and a half years out in Spain and I got to hear of him and invited him to training, and the rest is history.
"We played him in a few pre-season friendlies and I was delighted with what I saw, and he was happy with us.
"You look at the schooling that’s he’s had, especially with the Spanish side of things and he’s an excellent player, you can tell."
Excited by his new signing, Jack is fearing bad news surrounding the fitness of one of his current players, last season's top scorer Aidan Wilson.
Wilson was injured in a pre-season friendly against Burghead Thistle and will undergo scans to see if he has damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
That would mean likely surgery, writing him off for the season.
"He's out long term with what looks like a suspected ACL damage. He’s getting a scan on the 22nd of August," Jack added.
"It’s a blow because we badly miss his goals and we are very keen to get someone on the attacking front to come in.
"He contributed with a good number of goals and he was looking great in pre-season and had been working extremely hard to get himself fit and strong, he didn't take a holiday but he trained continuously. The he got injured at Burghead.
"We will get him assessed to find the full extent but the fears are that there is some ACL damage."
Wilson's finishing ability could have made a difference for the Speysiders when they were narrowly beaten by Brora on Saturday.
Andy Macrae's first half strike won it for the Cattachs, with visiting goalkeeper Joe Malin producing a string of fine saves to deny Rothes.
"Brora dominated possession up to the halfway line but we allowed them to do that," said Jack.
"If someone offered me six opportunities to score against Brora in one game I would take that over a few matches.
"We did have great chances, Joe (Malin) made three tremendous saves and with the other three I thought we could have done better.
"To create that number of chances against a quality team like Brora was encouraging but the fact that we didn’t capitalise on them is disappointing.
"You are always pleased when you creating chances and I know the goals will come but I’ve been saying for a while now, we need an out-and-out ruthless finisher. That might have made a difference for us on Saturday.
"We are being punished for our mistakes and just not getting any joy at the other end. But that will turn, the tide turns and we will capitalise soon.
"We just need to keep believing, we’ve just need to stick together and looking to achieve what we set out to do. We’ve got a philosophy and that won’t change, we will keep going.
"Starting with two defeats has been tough to take but there were some great shoots of recovery on Saturday and we’ve got to build on that against Banks O’ Dee on Saturday.
"It’s a game that will be extremely tough. We beat them here last season but they’ve brought in some good players and have made a strong start to the season with two very good victories.
"We will be prepared, we are getting some bodies back and we’re more equipped physically, as well as being compact and once we get these players fitter and stronger, I know over the coming weeks we will be back in there."
The Speysiders are without back-up keeper Ian MacKenzie and defender Ben Williamson, as well as injured striker Wilson.
Summer signing, defender Charlie Macdonald has been playing in the Highland Amateur Cup for home village Avoch. He will be back to face Banks O' Dee and Nairn County on Wednesday, before returning to Avoch to play in their cup final.
