Manchester Giants have announced the return of British centre Barry Webster for the 2018-19 season.
The 25-year-old played two seasons with the Giants before leaving for Italy last summer.
Webster is the second former Giant to return to the club this summer, following the re-signing of James Jones, joining Callum Jones and Ingus Bankevics, both former team-mates of Webster, in the Giants roster for the new season.
Webster said: “I’m really looking forward to coming back. I went to Italy to prove I was injury free and then come back to the BBL and play.
“Danny came in as assistant after I had left Giants, before moving up to coach, and so I didn’t get chance to get to know him. But there’s no hard feelings, I’m more than happy that he wants me to come back.
“I was ready to argue that there were at least five or six games last season where we lost by 10 points where I could have made a difference in defence and I’m looking forward to proving myself.”
Standing at 6’10”, Webster also spent time in the US at Coffeyville College and then at Loughborough as part of the Leicester Riders student set-up.
After turning professional with the Giants, Webster made a total of 42 appearances for the club until a back injury curtailed his 2016-17 campaign, where he averaged 1.4 blocks in 16 minutes per game, ranking him second in the entire BBL.
Coach Danny Byrne said: “Last time he was with us he was the second leading shot blocker in the entire BBL, so we’ll be expecting him to come in and make big defensive plays.
“He also came close to double-doubles in big games against Newcastle and Glasgow so we’ll be challenging Barry to compete consistently at that level again.”
Webster’s new team-mates all reported for pre-season this week, with Mike McCall Jr, Torry Butler and Willie Clayton flying in from the USA, and fellow big man Vlatko Granic arriving from Croatia.