STUART McCall is not worried about the prospect of Charlie Wyke becoming a potential transfer target in next month’s window.

The striker leads the way for City with ten goals for the season, as well as providing five assists.

That form could put him on the radar but McCall insists he is not concerned.

“It’s not something in the forefront of my mind,” said the Bantams boss.

“But you’ve got to be realistic. If you have good players in your side, they will always attract interest.

“I’ve certainly not heard of any in Charlie but things can change all of a sudden in the window. We saw it with James Hanson last year.

“(Head of recruitment) Greg (Abbott) is also aware of the likes of Gilly (Alex Gilliead) that we’re still waiting on. You’ve got to keep looking about for certain areas of the park.

“Even last year it wasn’t certain that Josh Cullen would stay here. There was also talk about Mezza (James Meredith) and Marsh (Mark Marshall), so you can’t be naïve enough to think nothing will happen.

“But I’ve not given it a real thought about Charlie. He’s certainly playing well.

“We got into him a little bit at Portsmouth which was certainly his poorest display.

“Then we gave him a couple of Tuesdays to work with Shorty (Chris Short) to get him up to a fitness level.

“There are a lot of players at the minute playing on top of their games, which is good.”

Jake Reeves and Timothee Dieng are back from injury to increase midfield options as City take their superb away form to Southend, the only side in League One unbeaten at home.

But Jordan Gibson has been ruled out after tweaking his groin.

McCall added: “We’ve got two or three decisions to make both in personnel and tactical, which way we go and how we approach the game. Some who are playing well might miss out.

“But on the back of the whole season away from home, we’ve consistently got good results. We have that positivity going into games.

“We’re almost up to halfway in the season and we’re really pleased with the group to have got us as many points as we have.

“At the moment, we’re sandwiched in between the four big hitters, Wigan, Blackburn, Charlton and Scunny.

“There are also a few more in mid-table who will be looking to get into that sixth spot, Southend being one of them.”

McCall is braced for a backlash from Southend after they were heavily criticised by manager Phil Brown following a 3-0 loss at Bristol Rovers.

The City chief is also keen to avenge defeat by the same margin on the last visit to Roots Hall.

McCall said: “They’ve been lambasted after that defeat last week and they’ll be looking to come straight out the traps.

“You look at the Southend squad and it’s certainly well capable of being in play-off contention. They only missed out last season on the final day.

“They were also a side that we didn’t beat last year. They played well in the 1-1 at our place and obviously won down there, although it was never a 3-0.

“That still rankles because the game wasn’t like that.

“The first came from a blatant hand ball and we’ve hit the bar and actually played okay. Then Romain (Vincelot) scored an own goal in the last minute to make it look even worse.

“We were disappointed with the outcome last season because the performance didn’t merit that scoreline.

“But we’ve got to keep focused and not take things for granted just because our away record is good.”