Phil Parkinson says City have made offers to “several other players” as they bid to further bolster their squad following the arrival of Billy Knott.

Midfielder Knott became the Bantams’ second signing of the summer on Friday when he penned a two-year deal following his release from Sunderland.

Parkinson beat off competition from Port Vale to sign the highly-rated youngster, who – along with Matty Dolan – has added to the City ranks since the end of last season.

But Parkinson has revealed he is speaking to several more potential targets and also expects progress to be made on the club’s out-of-contract players this week.

“We’re talking to several players but it takes time and it’s like that with every signing,” said the Bantams boss.

“I had been speaking to Billy Knott for a couple of weeks and we’ve got several offers on the table for other players.

“There are also players we’ve been asked to be kept informed about by their agents, so it’s just about biding our time and making the right decisions.

“We’re exploring all the options available to us and it’s important that we keep any targets close to our chest.

“At the minute they sneak out, that alerts other clubs, which could mean you lose your target to a rival or you have to pay more in wages than you originally expected because of competition.

“It’s a long summer and quite often signings don’t get finalised until the first week of pre-season or the week before.

“I don’t expect much difference now but we’ve got a clear plan in our minds with what we want to do to improve the team and we’re working towards that.

“We know what type of player we want to attract to the club and Billy Knott certainly fits that category.”

Parkinson feels Knott is nowhere near the finished article and has helped him to realise his talent.

“He knows he’s got a lot of work to do to fulfil his potential but myself and the rest of the staff are going to help him achieve that,” said the City chief.

“As a manager, you want to work with young players with potential and he’s certainly got that.”

Several players saw their contracts expire at the end of last season but Parkinson expects progress to be made on that front shortly.

Player of the year Stephen Darby, fellow full back James Meredith, Nathan Doyle and Kyel Reid are among the large number of Parkinson’s squad in that position and talks are ongoing.

Parkinson said: “We’re going to have meetings early this week with a few of those players and hopefully by the end of the week we will have moved things forward.”

Meanwhile, the funeral of lifelong City supporter Arnold Thompson will be held at Rawdon Crematorium at 11am tomorrow. He recently passed away aged 91 and had been a season-ticket holder for 79 years.

The Bantams are expected to announce today how many season tickets and flexi-cards they sold before Saturday’s deadline.