AHMED Kashi has become Oxford United’s third signing of the January transfer window after finalising his loan move from France.

The 30-year-old is switching from Ligue 2 side Troyes for the rest of the season and will provide competition for John Mousinho in a defensive midfield role.

Providing international clearance is received in time, the new signing will come straight into the squad to face Sky Bet League One leaders Portsmouth at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

Kashi has played under boss Karl Robinson before, during his time at Charlton Athletic.

He said: “I played for Karl and it was a pleasure.

“I know exactly what he wants from me and his players. I will try my best to help the team achieve what he wants.

“I was missing the UK a little bit – the games, the supporters, all the atmosphere around the football, so that’s why I came back.”

Robinson allowed centre back Charlie Raglan to leave on loan to Cheltengam Town on Tuesday, which made room to make an addition in midfield.

Read again - Charlie Raglan departs the U's on loan

He said: “You have to balance the books and we’ve got Mous who can play centre back as third choice and Longy (Sam Long) who can be fourth choice.

“We have an awful lot of cover. You can’t carry four centre backs at this level, it’s as simple as that.

“If we want to bring in strikers and forward players you have to be a little bit more cautious in how you do things with the budget.

“Bringing Kash in gives us a midfield player (which helps) if Mous gets injured or tired – we’re going to go through February playing Saturday-Tuesday.

“I think Mous’s best performances have been Brentford away, the second half against Plymouth and the second half against Fleetwood.

“That’s through not being fatigued and not playing the amount of games that everybody had to play.

“That gives us the flexibility to rotate that. It also puts tremendous pressure on the back two (Curtis Nelson and Rob Dickie).

“Now they know they’ve got someone who is very able and experienced who can step in. It gives us greater competition for places.”