STUART McCall admitted that having Adam Thompson in the can took the nerves away from deadline day for City.

The Bantams last night added goalkeeper Lukas Raeder on a short-term deal to cover the loss of Rouven Sattelmaier, who could be out for up to two months with a hamstring tear.

The 6ft 4in German previously made two appearances for Bayern Munich before a spell in Portugal with Vitoria Setubal. He was also briefly on the radar of Newcastle and Southampton.

Securing another keeper in Sattelmaier’s absence was the order of the day for City before the transfer window shut.

They had looked to bring in another target, thought to be a central midfielder, but that did not materialise.

But McCall felt the main business had been done on Wednesday when they secured Thompson for the season – and finally found a replacement for Rory McArdle as a right-sided centre half.

The Bantams boss admitted they could not compete with the package Bury offered the defender in the summer on a three-year deal.

And they acted quickly once they became aware that he was not in the picture at his new club.

He said: “That was a win-win for us. We’re not paying huge money for him and we’re getting someone who has played a lot of games at this level.

“We’d been knocked back on a few things for different reasons.

“Then out the blue, we noticed he’d not been in the side the last couple of games.

“I jokingly mentioned it to Shay McCartan last Saturday morning on the pre-match walk prior to Walsall.

“Things happened, his agent got in touch with Greg (Abbott) and things transpired very quickly after that.”

With nobody leaving Valley Parade, McCall was an interested observer as League One rivals fought to hang on to their big names.

He added: “It’s only natural, from our point of view, you’re hoping to see top players leave other clubs.

“I’d have been more on edge if I was Oxford worried about losing Marvin Johnson. It’s like we were with James Hanson last January, worrying about having to get one in if he left.”

Raeder, 23, has signed until the start of January and will be on the bench against Bristol Rovers at Valley Parade tomorrow.

Head of recruitment Greg Abbott said: “We knew he had impressed while on trial with a couple of Premier League clubs over the summer.

“Every goalkeeper coached we talked to about Lukas spoke very highly of him.”