Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson thought he would need around 10 players to complete his squad for the new season in League One.
He has reached the half-way point with two new recruits to join the three former loanees who have signed permanent deals at Brunton Park.
Carlisle United have signed 26-year-old defender Sam Lavelle as well as 30-year-old midfielder Dylan McGeouch, both on two-year deals.
Lavelle, who began his career at Blackburn Rovers, scored the winning penalty when Charlton Athletic knocked out Premier League Brighton in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in December,
Lavelle began his career at Blackburn Rovers as an eight-year-old and spent 12 years there, before moving to Bolton Wanderers ahead of the 2016/17 season.
Although England-born he represented Scotland at youth level while with Blackburn – twice at Under-18s level and twice at Under-19s.
Without playing a senior game for either Blackburn or Bolton he moved to Morecambe in the summer of 2017 and made 165 appearances across four seasons with the Shrimps.
He was captain at the Globe when the club won promotion to the third tier for the first time in their history in May 2021.
That earned him a move to League One side Charlton, where he scored three times in 41 appearances.
He was due to spend the second half of the 2022/23 campaign on loan with Burton, but a shoulder injury brought a premature end to that spell after just two League outings.
He had played 32 times for Charlton, including 15 last season when the highlight was scoring the winning penalty in the Carabao Cup.
The other new arrival McGeouch is also a more experienced Scottish international with two full caps in 2018 and 29 age group appearances from Under-16s to Under-21s.
He had the rather unique record of having been in the youth system at both Rangers and Celtic, with three years at each.
Glasgow-born, he went on to play 20 times for the Celtic senior side before switching to Hibernian, at first on loan and then permanently.
In between times he also had an eight-game loan spell in England with Coventry City.
After 92 games for Hibs he was signed by Sunderland (30 games) before returning to Scotland with Aberdeen (36).
Last season he was back in England with Forest Green, playing in League One 21 times for the relegated club.
