YORK City boss Nigel Worthington believes the signing of midfielder Luke Summerfield offers a signal of the club's intent.

Following his release by relegated Sky Bet League One club Shrewsbury at the end of last season, Summerfield has penned a two-year deal at Bootham Crescent and, in nine years, the Devon-born, 26-year-old has played outside the Football League's bottom tier in all but one campaign.

That was when he joined forces with City pair Russell Penn and Keith Lowe to help Cheltenham reach the 2012 play-off final at Wembley.

Summerfield then earned a move to Shropshire, having previously played 71 games for Plymouth in the Championship prior to their relegation in 2010.

He was even named in The Guardian newspaper's top-ten prospects for 2007 and, on his seventh summer signing's higher-division experience, a pleased Worthington said: "He is another player with League One experience who knows the game and has a lot of appearances under his belt, so we are building bit by bit to chip away and move forward gradually.

"He's a good box-to-box athlete and a very good footballer."

Having seen his central midfielders only contribute one goal during the whole of last season, the City chief is also hoping Summerfield can help improve that tally.

The 6ft battler scored a 30-yard thunderbolt on his full debut for the Pilgrims against Charlton at the age of 18 and claimed six goals in 51 outings for Cheltenham at this level.

In 235 games, he has 17 professional goals to his name and, despite only managing four in 70 appearances for Shrewsbury, Worthington is expecting him to hit the target for the Minstermen, adding: "I'm not saying he's a Frank Lampard, by any means, but he's capable of scoring a goal.

"We need that to take some pressure off the forwards and it will help the team and results situation."

Summerfield moved to Cheltenham after spending the first six years of his career with Plymouth, aside from loan spells at Bournemouth and Leyton Orient.

He forged a strong partnership at Whaddon Road with current City skipper Penn and Worthington is hoping the two pair can recreate that understanding.

"Luke has played with Russ before and they are almost like two peas in a pod," the Minstermen boss revealed. "They are both dogged in style and play with energy, although Russ would probably be the first to admit Luke will get the odd goal more than him."

The arrival of Summerfield follows on from the summer additions of Femi Ilesanmi, Jason Mooney, Jake Hyde, Marvin McCoy, Anthony Straker and Dave Winfield but Worthington reiterated that he would still like to make one more permanent signing ahead of the new campaign.

"I would like another one to add to what we have got - probably in the wide area with pace," he said. "We are looking at that currently and, if the right one comes along, we will do our best to bring him in."