Stevenage have made four signings so far this summer - and manager Alex Revell is delighted with every one of them.

The new Boro boss already had the vast majority of last year's squad signed but he needed to go out and plug holes in certain positions.

And ahead of their first pre-season game in front of fans, at home to Watford on Saturday, Revell has given the lowdown on why he wanted the quartet.

The boss said: "It's been a busy period but that's how we like it and I think we've brought in real quality, probably in positions we needed to strengthen. 

"With Louis Appere, whenever we've played Northampton, he caused us problems and players and their attributes stand out in your mind. 

"[You wonder] do they match what we want for the identity of us as a club and Louis certainly matches what we are about. 

"Dan Kemp is someone that we've tracked for a long time, probably since he left the first time. 

"We were really disappointed he didn’t come back to us then but when he came to us [in 2020], he was a young lad learning his trade. 

"He’s now turned into a man. He's gone away and he's worked on all the stuff that makes you a footballer. 

"With the ball, we know he has real quality and scores lots and lots of goals, but it's without the ball, how he uses his body now, that’s how he's developed and it was the right time for him to come and join us. 

"We’re now really strong in that part of the pitch with Jordan Roberts as well. 

"Lewis Freestone is another we wanted and have tracked for a long, long time, probably since he was at Brighton as a left-back. 

"He’s a Stevenage player through and through, he really is with his aggression and his identity. 

"He's a fantastic young lad and he's gone away and got lots and lots of games, over 100 games, and he comes to us with that experience now. 

"And Dan Phillips has come in. That was a long process, we've been waiting for that to go through. 

"We just had to be a bit patient but we’re delighted that he decided to join us. 

"He's added real strength to that position, we've got Louis Thompson who did that really well last year too. 

"We’ve perhaps lacked that middle man who can sit and play, but also can join in with real energy. 

"We're really excited to work with them all, as well as the ones that were already here. 

"They've all come back in fantastic shape, they’ve worked really hard, and we've continued to work hard because that's what pre-season is about, to make sure that we get to the first game of the season, and then we get to the middle of the season and the end, we're in exactly the same condition and shape. 

"We have to make sure that we build now we can’t get this time back and so far it has been really good."