David Artell says that it was ‘no-brainer’ to sign our former trialist Christian Mbulu on a short-term deal. The former Milwall defender signed a contract until January and Artell believes that the 23-year-old centre-half will easily slot back into life at Crewe.

Mbulu trained with us throughout the pre-season and featured in pre-season matches but we couldn’t quite sort out a deal and he took the opportunity to trial elsewhere but Artell always kept in touch with the player and is delighted to finally have got it  over line.

Crewe were permitted to sign the centre-half as he is a free agent.

The Crewe boss told the club’s official website: “Christian is different to what we have. He is combative and probably not as silky as some, but he will head a fridge and head a wall and that is an important trait to have as a League Two defender. It really matters.

“He was with us over the summer so that is already an advantage because he was here when we worked on shape and understanding how we wanted to play. He knows our way of doing things and fitted in really well. He knows us and that is an advantage over any other player coming in.

“He is a lovely guy, the players know him and he is relatively fit after having the full pre-season with us. It was a no-brainer for us to get it done when we found out that Olly is out longer than we thought.

“He is a terrific kid and I am pleased to have got it sorted.”