NEW signing Kieron Evans is excited to get going after turning down a host of EFL rivals to join Nelson Jardim’s Newport County AFC revolution, writes Andrew Penman.

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder joins on a season-long loan deal from Cardiff City and could make his County debut against Accrington Stanley at Rodney Parade this afternoon.

And he cannot wait to show the Exiles fans what he can do.

“I’m delighted to be joining the club,” said the former Wales under-21 international.

“I had several offers from Football League clubs, but I felt Newport County was the right move for me.

“I believe the style of football will suit my game. It’s a different philosophy from last season and I am really excited about trying to make my mark.”

Evans has previously gained experience on loan at Linfield and Torquay United, before spending the second half of the 2023-24 campaign at Gateshead, where he won the FA Trophy.

Having signed a new contract at Cardiff this summer, he featured for the Bluebirds in their Carabao Cup win over Bristol Rovers earlier this month and also has five league appearances to his name for the Championship outfit.

New County head coach Nelson Jardim is delighted to have him on board.

“Kieron definitely brings different qualities,” said Jardim. “He’s a creative player, he’s a Welsh international, he brings some experience – he’s played at Wembley already – so he’ll bring even more balance to the team, more options, and I’m looking forward to working with him.

“This is the next step he was looking for and we hope he finds that this is a good place to develop his ability, and obviously he will be helping us as well.”

Evans becomes County’s 14th signing since the end of last season and there could be more before the transfer window shuts on Friday at 11pm.

“I think everyone is going to be relieved [when the window closes],” said Jardim.

“We are quite happy with everything we’ve got so far, but we don’t hide that we are still looking for one or two players who we believe will improve the team and give me more solutions, and probably a little bit more balance as well.

“We’ve got a couple of players under our radar, and we know exactly what we are doing now. Some of them are down to negotiations.”

Having sold last season’s top scorer Will Evans to Mansfield Town and released fellow striker Omar Bogle, Jardim would like to add another forward to compete with the likes of Courtney Baker-Richardson, Luke Jephcott and Bobby Kamwa.

“We’ve got CBR, Luke, Bobby, but a striker is something that, if we think it’s right for us, we will probably be looking at,” the head coach confirmed.

“At the moment we are not thinking about anybody leaving.”