Fulham striker Olly Sanderson on his loan with Bradford City

Olly Sanderson has already tapped into the Fulham connection in the dressing room after arriving on a season-long loan.

“I played a little bit with Kev when he was at Fulham,” said Sanderson. “He came and trained with the 21s for a period of time.

“He’s been really helpful today as he was with me at Fulham. It’s good to have him around.

“You take a lot of things from different players. Whether it was Oxford City, Sutton and here, I want to take things from every one of the boys.”

The Bantams are the third different loan for the striker, who scored 13 goals last season from two separate spells away from his Premier League parent club.

The move to West Yorkshire is stepping out of the comfort zone for a player born in West Sussex, whose young career has so far been based in the south.

But he has family backing nearby to help him settle into the change of environment.

“It is a big move but I have got family that live in Sheffield which isn’t too far. Hopefully that will be really helpful.

“So, it’s not that foreign to me as my whole family’s from here. I grew up on the south coast so obviously it’s a long way from home but I’m looking just to settle in as quickly as possible.

“I think going out on loan is one of the most important things you can do as a young player.

“My first loan was when I was 18. As soon as the option came to me, I just took it straight away.

“In a way, it’s what I needed. I needed to be around men in that more physical environment just to gain that experience.

“You feel physically better and it’s also what you learn mentally, the dark arts of the game I guess.”

Steve Morison was City’s 2017 Wembley nemesis with Millwall but fans might be a bit more forgiving if his tutorship pays off with Sanderson.

The 20-year-old admitted he learned plenty from playing under Morison during the second half of last season in Sutton’s unsuccessful fight to stay up.

“With him being a striker, he really helped with little pointers every now and then,” added Sanderson, who scored four League Two goals.

“He gave me little bits of advice that I worked on in training and it seemed to really help.

“I’m partly used to (League Two) because I’ve only played half a season with Sutton. But I’m looking forward to it here.

“It’s not just the Bradford fans and staff, it’s people away from this club who will be looking to see how I get on. It’s my job to try and do what I can to impress.”

Kevin McDonald is a familiar face at City for Olly Sanderson (Image: Thomas Gadd)

City faced competition to secure Sanderson, who will wear the number 21 shirt. He comes straight into contention for the Carabao Cup first-round trip to Grimsby tomorrow night.

His arrival means Graham Alexander now has six senior strikers at his disposal, although the window still has a two-and-a-half weeks to run.

The City boss said: “We need to make sure we’re not left short or left waiting for things we feel we need to do.

“It’s a part of the squad that’s strong in number but I still feel we needed to improve and I’m delighted the club was in a position to go and do the business without having to trade.

“That’s really important that we’re not in a position where we have to get people out to bring people in.”