MICK McCarthy has made his first signing as Ipswich Town manager – bringing in former Charlton defender Kelly Youga on a short-term deal.

The 27-year-old trained with Blues for the first time yesterday and has been added to the squad for tonight’s Suffolk Premier Cup tie at Walsham Le Willows.

Kelly started his career at Lyon, where he trained alongside Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and Chelsea’s Florent Malouda. In the summer of 2005, he joined Charlton and went on to make 71 appearances for the club in his six years at The Valley.

He made his debut in the Football League while on loan at Bristol City in 2005, playing five times for the Robins. Further loan spells followed at Bradford, in 2007 – where he made 11 appearances – and Scunthorpe, for six months during their Championship campaign in 2007/08, making 20 appearances.

Knee injuries hindered his progress at Charlton after he had established himself in the Addicks’ line-up and he left the club in May 2011. He joined Yeovil in January of this year on a short-term contract but left Huish Park by mutual consent two months later.

In the summer he made his international debut, playing for the Central African Republic in a 2-0 win over Botswana.