Newport County AFC are delighted to announce the signing of Matt Baker on a loan deal until the end of the season.

The centre back arrives on loan from Championship outfit Stoke City to bolster County's defence for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign.

Matt has earned caps for Wales all the way up to Under-21 level, captaining his country for the Under-17s in the 2017 Under-17 European Championships against Slovenia and Holland, and he also skippered the Under-19s in the Under-19 Euro qualifiers against Georgia, Norway and Kosovo in 2021.

After progressing through the ranks of Gillingham, Matt completed a move to Stoke in the summer of 2021 and has also gone on to captain the Potters' Under-21s in Premier League 2.

He has also been named on the bench of Stoke's first-team squad this season for the games against Hull and QPR in September.

On signing for County, Matt said: "I'm buzzing, I had a good chat with the manager and I can't wait to get started.

"He's said to me to come in with a clean sheet mentality and that'll be good enough for him!

"At heart, I'm a defender - I like to keep the ball out the net, it's my main aim when I step onto the pitch, but on the flipside I'm composed on the ball so I like to do both sides of the game."

Welcome to Newport, Matt!

New signings at Newport County AFC are sponsored by Sytner Newport. To enquire about sponsoring Matt Baker, and other County player's shirts, please contact Matthew.Owen@Newport-County.co.uk.

UPTHEPORT wrote: January 27th, 2023, 1:25 pmWelcome Matt

Percy plunkett wrote: January 27th, 2023, 4:29 pm It’s a striker we need and not another CB.We have 4 CB’s so,unless Clarke has problems with his injury or,Dennis is being sold or,MD is being blamed for one bad game out of 280+,I don’t get it.Mind you ,Matt is good on Country File and The One Show so,he should talk the talk ok.

Percy plunkett wrote: January 27th, 2023, 4:29 pm It’s a striker we need and not another CB.We have 4 CB’s so,unless Clarke has problems with his injury or,Dennis is being sold or,MD is being blamed for one bad game out of 280+,I don’t get it.Mind you ,Matt is good on Country File and The One Show so,he should talk the talk ok.