Bantams boss not being "precious" with free-agent market

Graham Alexander insists they will not be “precious” about the prospect of bringing in a player without a club.

Cheick Diabate and Jack Shepherd are the only centre-halves currently available – although the Bantams hope to have Neill Byrne and Aden Baldwin back in the next few weeks.

Ciaran Kelly went for a scan on his injured ankle yesterday morning and Alexander was waiting for the results.

The City chief has been casting an eye on possible back-up among those who are still on the market.

And he confirmed there is one possible target currently going through his paces elsewhere.

Aden Baldwin is a couple of weeks from returning to action (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alexander said: "There are good players still unattached and if we have the opportunity to bring people in now and see them training with us for two weeks, it’s something we should take.

“There’s a player out there training with another club that we might have potential interest in as well.

“He’s with another club at the moment and we’re not in a position to offer somebody something straight away. We do need to assess them and have a look.

“Something might come of that if the club he is at currently doesn’t do anything.

“We can’t be too precious about this. If there’s a player who can help us win games, whether it’s for 10 games, 15 games, 40 games, then why not.”

Even before the defensive injuries, City have kept tabs on the residential training camps set up by the PFA during the summer. Head of recruitment Stephen Gent watched a couple of the games that were organised.

City’s focus has been sharpened by the run of injuries in the same area of the squad.

“Do we need someone right now because we think Aden and Neill will be back within a couple of weeks?” added Alexander.

“We’ve got two centre halves who were superb the other night.

“But we’re just looking ahead. If we can get one or two players in now to train with us for two or three weeks to give them the opportunity.

“These players need to keep fit as well when the opportunity comes along.

“I was in that boat once and someone gave me the chance to train with them for a whole pre-season. Then I got a contract somewhere else on the back of that.

“It’s a two-way transaction. We can help a couple of players and they can help us or potentially take an opportunity.

“That’s why we were kept abreast of that group that’s training with the PFA.

“We knew they were training for a considerable amount of time in a training camp.

“They were playing friendly games as well, a full 90 minutes.

“They were probably 80 per cent as prepared as players that were at football clubs up to a certain point.

“But then obviously that stopped and they’ve had to do their own thing.

“It’s about assessing each individual. If we can get eyes on them and they can get through our training, you can’t overlook it.

“Certainly, if we’re down on numbers in certain positions. We’ll see what comes of it.”