GRAHAM Alexander has hinted the door is still open for Vadaine Oliver at City.
The striker has been expected to leave Valley Parade over the summer after finishing last season on loan with Stevenage.
But Oliver made another pre-season outing against Guiseley on Saturday and Alexander insists he remains part of the squad unless something changes.
The City boss said: “In January, Vadaine was frustrated with his lack of starts.
“We had good players doing good jobs for us and he asked to go out on loan. We thought it was beneficial for him and for us, so we did it.
“He came back and I’m obviously treating him as part of the squad, the same as everyone else.
“If anything happens further on, then we’ll see. But that could happen with any player if clubs become interested.
“At the moment, he’s trained every day with us and played 45 minutes in each of the three games, the same as everyone else.
“He is just cracking on. I’m treating him as our player, which he is.”
Oliver came on for City’s improved second half in the 2-1 loss at Nethermoor and combined with Andy Cook to set up Alex Pattison for their goal.
“I’ve been pushing him just as hard and talking about his positioning and what we need from the strike force,” added Alexander.
“He’s been as involved as Andy Cook, Tyler Smith and Jake Young.
“I’ve got no guarantees on any of the players come the season starting.
“But while players are here and they show the right attitude, show they are part of the squad and want to help Bradford City win then we crack on.”
Brad Halliday and Aden Baldwin are ready to up their training work in time for the flight out to Austria at the end of the week.
Alexander said: “Brad and Aden joined in training on Friday but only a small portion of it to get a bit of ball work.
“They’ll do the same on Monday and Tuesday.
“We’ve got a behind-closed-doors game again on Wednesday, so they’ll be training with the medical team.
“But when we go to Austria, we expect them to train fully with the first team. That will be great to see.”
Alexander was angry with City’s first-half display on Saturday – and will present the video evidence to the players today.
“I told the players that even if we’d been 1-0 at half-time I still wouldn’t be happy.
“We didn’t play at any tempo. We tried to get a 45-minute period without stretching or pushing ourselves.
“We’ll get a great contrast from the first half to the second.
“Sometimes when you’re a player and right in the middle of it, you think you’re doing those things.
“When you watch the video and see the data and the stats, then you realise you were nowhere near.”
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