The Leicester Breedon Aggregates promoter David Hemsley has made his third new signing within a fortnight with the acquisition of Magnus Karlsson, who joins the Lions on loan from Scunthorpe.

The 29-year-old is set to make his debut on Saturday at Beaumont Park against the highflying Sheffield Tigers who currently lie second in the Premier League table and are now at full strength following the return of Josh Auty from injury.

Karlsson has spent nine seasons in British Speedway representing Edinburgh, Hull and Scunthorpe in the Premier League and Wolverhampton at Elite League level. During his spell at Hull he helped the Vikings win the league, cup and Young Shield competitions.

The Swedish Under-21 international has so far resisted a return to British Speedway and has instead confined his racing commitments to his homeland where he rides for Solkatterna in the Swedish Division One League and Ornarna in the Alsvenskan League.

Magnus rode for Scunthorpe last season and finished second in the team’s averages behind Sileby born rider David Howe. Magnus spent three seasons at the Eddie Wright Raceway stadium and appeared in 129 meetings for the South Humberside club during which time he amassed 1300 points in all competitions, making him the club’s third highest scorer of all-time.

Karlsson comes into the side at number four to partner Iliya Bondarenko with captain Richard Hall making way after being released by the club. Hall is set to joing Scunthorpe and will make his final appearance for Leicester on Thursday at Ipswich. He has missed three league fixtures this season already due to his World Long-track commitments and is likely to be absent for a further two and possibly three home meetings.

Lions promoter David Hemsley, said: “Richard has upped his game since coming to Leicester but we are in the same situation as we found ourselves with Mathieu Trésarrieu and need to have a captain who is not elsewhere when he should be leading the side.

“It is not a good advert for the sport or the people of Leicester to pay to see a six man team operating the rider replacement facility. With Kauko Nieminen, Henning Bager and now Magnus joining us we have the foundations of a strong heat leader partnership.

In Iliya Bondarenko and Jan Graversen we have two riders who are both capable of winning races and our young British reserves, Charles Wright and Ashley Morris are pushing for a full team place, so we are optimistic of seeing an upturn in form during the remainder of the season.”

Nieminen has been handed the captaincy of the team when the Lions face Sheffield on Saturday. “Kauko agreed to act as stand-in for Richard Hall on Saturday against Ipswich and having observed him at close quarters I could see that he has a natural ability and commanded respect from the other riders. Therefore I had no hesitation in asking kauko to accept the armband on a permanent basis,” said Jason Attwood, Leicester’s team manager.

Morris, the 17-year-old who has replaced injured John Oliver in the side, has been named captain of the Young Lions who face Sweden, Germany and Denmark next month in the semi-final of the European Under-19 Team Championship at Eskilstuna.