Tom Conlon and Michael Richins signed for Stevenage this week, with manager Graham Westley says it was the duo’s potential that earned them contracts.

The Peterborough United youngsters have both spent time on loan at the Lamex Stadium this season but the club has now signed them to permanent deals. While insisting neither is the finished article, Westley explained what impressed him enough to bring them both to the club.

“Tom Conlon, very simply, is an excellent passer of the football, a good creator of goals and a good scorer of goals. His development need is physical,” he said.

“He needs to become stronger, to become quicker and be able to last a game - it’s his athletic capabilities that need developing. I’m confident I can develop those. When you have a technician who is as good as him, if you add athletic capabilities then you have a great chance of making a player.”

He added: “Michael Richens is a good, keen young full-back. He’s got good speed but he needs to learn a lot about one-on-one defending and how to retain the football. But he’s got good basic capabilities in an area where we don’t have a lot of cover.”

Richens’ loan at Farnborough has ended and he has joined Conlon at the rest of the team this week at Stevenage’s Bragbury End training headquarters. Westley, though, has not ruled out sending the duo back out on loan.

“Both players have development potential - they are not the finished article,” he said.

“They’re two young prospects who are very much part of the development framework. They’re lads who have got some potential; that we’ve brought in to develop as part of a young crop we’re building at the club. Two young talents who need games, minutes and experience under their belts. Whether that’s here or elsewhere, we’ll talk about that in coming days and see where that leads.

“Michael and Tom have assets we believe we can develop and we want to give them the opportunity to flourish and grow at the club and see how far we can push them.”