Jez George believes Michael Thalassitis will be an exciting addition up front for Cambridge United after joining on a month-long loan deal.

The Cyprus under-19 international has been brought in from Stevenage, where he signed a three-year deal yesterday prior to his move to the R Costings Abbey.

Thalassitis, 19, came through the youth team at Borough and had temporary spells with Blue Square Bet South side Boreham Wood and Hayes & Yeading last season.

George said he had drafted the striker in due to concerns over Tom Elliott’s hamstring problem and Sam Smith, who suffered concussion in Saturday’s 3-3 draw at home to Telford.

He said: “We’ve changed the shape of the team a little bit with playing two up front and Tom hasn’t been able to train still, so we didn’t want to be in a position where we’d be light on numbers when someone we’ve tracked was available on wages that are very affordable.

“Do we need him 100 per cent definitely or is it too good an opportunity to turn down when you know he’ll score goals in this league?

“He’ll give us something different and if you’re not going to play with the same width perhaps, he gives us another option.

“He plays off the shoulder, has a bit of pace and gets on the end of things, and without putting pressure on him, he’s a goal-scorer.

“We know he’s highly rated by Stevenage and he’s not an unknown quantity to us because we’ve seen him play several times and he has come up against us in training games and for Boreham Wood in the FA Trophy.”

George said he hoped Elliott may be back in training at the end of the week, but did not expect him to be fit enough for this weekend’s trip to Hereford.

He said: “We’ve got to be really careful, because Tom is an explosive sort of player and he has had issues in the past, but it shouldn’t be a major issue.”

Also the 19-year old striker, frequently named as a substitute this season, has put pen to paper on a new deal with Stevenage and has also agreed a one month loan move to Blue Square Premier League side Cambridge United. He will now join up with the U’s ahead of their game with Hereford United next Saturday.

Thalassitis, who netted his first professional goal for Boro against Southampton in the Capital One Cup, was the first youth player at Stevenage FC to earn a professional contract and he hopes he can replicate his loan form last season by finding the back of the net for Jez George’s side.

 He said, “I’m just hoping to go there, get some first team games under my belt and score some goals for Cambridge. It’s a good chance for me to play some football and if it can go as well as my other loan moves I’ll be happy. I’m really pleased to have signed a new deal at Boro as well. It’s the first club that I have been at professionally and I really enjoy it here, it’s like a home to me and we’ve got a good team that can achieve a lot.”