Bantams defender Callum Johnson has been at St George's Park

Graham Alexander confirmed that the summer recruit will not be ready to feature in the League Two kick-off at MK Dons a week on Saturday.

It comes as no surprise as Johnson has sat out all the friendlies as he continues his rehab work.

But Alexander hopes to have the former Mansfield defender back in training with the rest of the squad by the time the real action begins.

“He’s not trained with us yet,” said the City boss. “He’s running out on the grass with the medical staff.

“He won’t play in the first game of the season. We’re hoping he’s training by then, but he’ll have missed the whole of preseason really.

“We have to make sure we’re careful when he does get out on the grass with us.

“But you have to be realistic and he won’t make that date.”

Johnson has been recovering from the niggle he picked up during the off-season.

He has just returned to Apperley Bridge after spending some time at the national football centre in St George’s Park while the other players were in Obertraun.

Calum Kavanagh could be busy in City's last two friendlies (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“We didn’t take him to Austria because we needed the fit players,” added Alexander.

“We managed to organise a week in St George’s Park as we had done with Jake Young during the summer as well.

“We thought that would be of benefit to Callum on the mental side, hearing a different voice and getting out of the same environment.

“He was back with the physio yesterday and we’ll assess him again today.

“We’re hoping that in the next week to 10 days he’ll be out on the grass.

“It was difficult for us to assess him while we were in Austria so really the last couple of days have been the best chance for the physio to do that.”

Calum Kavanagh, Brad Halliday and Aden Baldwin are all pencilled in for plenty of game time during the final two friendlies after their delayed start to preseason.

City fans are likely to see plenty of them against Sunderland tonight and at Altrincham for the final warm-up game at the weekend.

Alexander said: “They trained every session over in Austria but are obviously a little bit behind the other players as in exposure to match minutes.

“They are probably two weeks behind the rest of the group so we’ve got to try and catch them up over the next couple of games if we can.

“For me, having them training every day and doing every session was a real bonus."