Dover Athletic keep hold of former Colchester United and Kosovo youth midfielder Arjanit Krasniqi for the new National League South season

Dover have retained the services of a midfielder who has represented Kosovo at youth level.

Arjanit Krasniqi, 22, first joined Andy Hessenthaler's Whites this January and made 18 National League appearances last season, doing enough to earn a longer stay with the club despite Dover finishing bottom of the table.

The former Kosovo under-21 captain joined after making 12 appearances, scoring two goals in National League South for Braintree last term.

He started his senior career with Waltham Forest before he was picked up by Colchester in January 2018.

After his release at the end of the 2019/20 season, Krasniqi, who was born and raised in London but who represented his father’s native Kosovo at under-19 and under-21 levels, had a brief stay at Billericay Town before joining Finnish side, SJK, in February 2020.

His contract was cancelled by mutual consent in September 2020 and he joined Braintree that October.

Explaining how he had first signed Krasniqi, Whites boss Hessenthaler said: “Obviously, I know a few agents in the game and he was playing at Braintree, and he felt he could play higher.

“So he wanted to test himself.”

He joins Jake Goodman, Jordan Higgs, Alfie Paxman, Alfie Pavey, Stuart Nelson, Tyrone Sterling and Luke Wanadio in agreeing to play for Dover during their 2022/23 National League South campaign, the announcement Krasniqi will stay with the Crabble club being made on Monday evening after the club’s first day of pre-season training.