DARLINGTON yesterday splashed out £100,000 on Swansea City striker Pawel Abbott as manager Dave Penney took his number of summer acquisitions to nine.

York-born Abbott only signed for Swansea from Huddersfield Town in January but struggled in South Wales and was keen to return north.

Assuming he passes a medical on Monday, the 25-year-old will sign a two-year contract at the Darlington Arena.

He has spent the last three seasons in League One, the majority with Huddersfield, for whom he scored 51 goals in 126 games.

His best season was 2004/05, when he netted 27 times in League One as Huddersfield missed out on the play-offs by a single point.

That scoring pedigree led to January's £150,000 move to the Liberty Stadium, where he signed a deal until 2009, but he scored just once in 18 appearances, nine as a substitute.

Having previously filled gaps elsewhere in the team during his pre-season squad rebuilding, Abbott becomes Penney's first new forward and the manager said: "Pawel is a proven goalscorer at this level and higher.

"He's got a great habit of scoring goals and is a player who will excite the fans.

"It is another piece in the jigsaw but I expect there to be one or two more new faces joining before we kick off August 11."

Abbott started his career in Poland, the homeland of his parents, before moving to Preston North End in 2001 and then joining Huddersfield after three years at Deepdale.

His transfer to Quakers is the third six-figure transfer of his career as Huddersfield paid £125,000 for him in 2004.

Quakers this week revealed their squad numbers for next season and although not yet confirmed, Abbott is expected to receive Darlington's number nine shirt, worn last season by Gaetano Giallanza.

Squad numbers: 1 Andy Oakes, 2 Neil Austin, 3 Tim Ryan, 4 Alan White, 5 Stephen Foster, 7 Neil Wainwright, 8 Micky Cummins, 10 Clark Keltie, 11 Rob Purdie, 12 Julian Joachim, 13 David Stockdale, 14 Ricky Ravenhill, 15 Patrick Collins, 16 Gregg Blundell, 17 Scott Wiseman, 18 Kevin McBride, 19 Martin Smith, 20 Tommy Wright, 21 John Brackstone, 22 Kevin Burgess, 23 Wayne Clarke, 24 Shaun Reay, 25 Lewis Hardman.