Ebbsfleet United sign former Norwich City goalkeeper Dylan Berry as their 11th summer signing

Ebbsfleet manager Danny Searle has completed his 11th signing of the summer after adding a new goalkeeper to his squad.

The Fleet have snapped up 21-year-old Dylan Berry after he left Championship side Norwich City.

Berry was unveiled to Ebbsfleet fans before Saturday’s 1-1 pre-season friendly draw at home to League 1 Crawley Town, although the new keeper didn’t play any part in that game.

The arrival of Berry means that Fleet keeper Harrison Firth, who spent time with Chipstead last season, will again head out on loan.

“We’re fortunate that Harrison is a very competent keeper but from our perspective, it was always the plan for him to go out on loan this year and get some more experience,” explained Ebbsfleet boss Danny Searle.

“He had a good loan last year, he’s a young keeper and he needs to go out and learn his trade and be put in difficult situations. We’ve got some good options for him.

“I wanted to bring a different profile of keeper in and Dylan ticked that box in a lot of ways. Mark Cousins has been outstanding for us but he needs to be pushed as well and know he’s got someone there.

“We’re delighted to get Dylan in the building and we can’t wait to see him on the grass.”

So is the arrival of Berry, who has had loan spells in non-league at the likes of St Albans and Chelmsford, genuine competition for player-of-the-year Mark Cousins?

“100 per cent,” responded Searle. “That was the standard we looked at.

“The prerequisite for our recruitment and I’ve probably said it 50 times, so people are getting bored of it, is that we want starters, we want people that are going to come in and affect the starting line-up and that’s no different with the goalkeeping position.

“Mark respects that and knows that, he has earned