RETURNING Adam Campbell to his favoured position as a striker should help get the best out of the new Darlington signing, says manager Alun Armstrong.

The 24-year-old has agreed to join Darlington, as revealed by The Northern Echo on June 25, having last season been on loan to Carlisle United from Morecambe in League 2.

It was as a striker coming through the ranks at Newcastle United that Campbell made a breakthrough in the 2012-13 season, but partly due to his pace has since been used as a winger, which is not where Quakers’ boss wants to select him.

“Adam Campbell will be the No. 9. That will be his starting role, that’s where he sees himself playing,” Armstrong told The Northern Echo.

“The reason he hasn’t performed as well as he could’ve done is because people keep putting him out wide, but he’s not a wide player, he plays off the shoulder.

“We’ll see if we can get the best out of him and playing like he did when he first came onto the scene, that’s my job now.

“Adam's got massive potential. He made a few appearances at Newcastle and he was red hot property, people were talking about him, but then he disappeared.

“If you look at his career, people have been sticking him out wide. As a kid he was a top notch goalscorer, he knew where the back of the net was, but then he got played wide and there’s nothing worse as a forward when someone does that to you.

“He’s very quick, small, dynamic, great feet, good on the ball. He’s a clever player, he can run in behind and come short, he’s a bit like Thommo, but quicker.

“I see Thommo playing as No. 10, off a striker and that will allow him to do what he does best with a football, I want him in the game constantly.”

Campbell will complete his move this week and is expected to play in Darlington’s first pre-season friendly on Saturday at home to Motherwell, but fellow former Newcastle youth team player Conor Newton has opted to move elsewhere.

Darlington are one a handful of clubs to have been turned down by the 27-year-old, who has chosen to join ambitious Whickham after his Hartlepool United contracted expired.

The midfielder was in demand with Blyth, Gateshead and Quakers all chasing his signature.

But he yesterday became Whickham’s latest notable recruit, joining fellow new signings such as ex-Quakers keeper Adam Bartlett and striker Carl Finnegan from South Shields in dropping to Division One of the Northern League.

Former Darlington midfielder Jason Kennedy is a free agent after leaving Carlisle United and is currently training with Hartlepool, but Armstrong said: “He does not the fit criteria I’m looking for, which is young, hungry lads trying to back into the Football League.”

The fixtures for the National League North season will be published on Wednesday.