Defender Ben Barclay became Paul Simpson’s third summer signing this morning with the former-loanee having agreed a two-year deal with the Blues.
“It’s another one I’m delighted with,” the gaffer told us. “I thought he showed us last season what he brings to the group.
“He’s another addition who we know all about, and he knows all about us. This is another that’s taken a little bit more time than we would have liked but thankfully we’ve got him over the line now.
“He’s only missed the first couple of days of testing but I know he’s been in at Stockport this week, so that means he joins us in a good, physical state. I’m looking forward to getting back to working with him."
“The other good thing is that he showed us last year that he can do a number of jobs,” he added. “We used him at right back and on the same side as a wing back, and that’s the kind of thing we need.
“I want a really tightly knit and competitive squad and he certainly adds to that. He has a calmness about him as a footballer and he ticks the box in terms of being young, but with some good experience behind him.
“There’s still loads of development for him to do, in my opinion, and hopefully we’ll all benefit from him doing that with us.”
On the ongoing search for more new faces, he said: “I wouldn’t say we’re close right now but we’ve got quite a lot of things ticking over.
“We’re looking at both permanent signings and loans and hopefully over the next couple of weeks they will happen.
“In terms of the loans it’s still very early because with the Premier League clubs their international players aren’t back yet, and some of them are still away on international duty.
“I think over the next 10 to 14 days things will become a little bit clearer, and we do have things lined up with loans that we want to do.
“Hopefully the international players come back fit to their Premier League clubs and then these lads will be able to come out to us.”