Bristol Rovers complete signing of former Barnet defender David Tutonda
The defender played in the friendly win against Cheltenham Town and impressed enough to earn a permanent deal
Bristol Rovers have announced the signing of versatile former Barnet defender David Tutonda on a two-year deal.
Tutonda, who can play at left-back, left wing-back, or left midfield, played 45 minutes as a trialist against Cheltenham Town during a friendly on Tuesday night and has impressed enough to earn himself a permanent move.
He was a free agent after leaving Barnet, who he signed for in 2017 from Cardiff City, and has now joined up to add strength in depth to Ben Garner’s side.
He will provide competition to Luke Leahy and Michael Kelly on the left-hand side, but with Kelly often being used as a left sided centre-back in pre-season, Garner could see Tutonda as the man to challenge for Leahy’s place.
He had a solid outing against Cheltenham, scoring the first goal after a good burst forward in the 2-0 win before being replaced by Mark Little.
And he will now join up with Garner’s side on a permanent deal, ready to start the first game of the season on September 5 against Ipswich in the Carabao Cup.
On the signing, Ben Garner said: “We are pleased to welcome David to the Club. He provides further quality to our squad. David is very humble and his character will fit in very well here.
“David has a number of very good attributes in terms of what we were looking for & we also see the potential to really develop his game moving forwards. With a number of options available to him David showed a really strong desire to join us and we are very happy to get this deal done.”
Tutonda could feature in tonight’s friendly against Cardiff City at the Mem, with the game against the Championship side Rovers’ last friendly before they kick off their season.
