CITY fans are waiting impatiently for the club’s opening moves of the transfer window.

But as David Hopkin and Julian Rhodes continue to work around the clock to find the right recruits for the on-going survival battle, one “new” face might be just about to appear.

It has been three months since Sean Scannell was last seen in a City shirt – and that was the sight of him trudging towards the dressing room after being sent off for an altercation with Sunderland’s George Honeyman.

Shortly afterwards, a back complaint was diagnosed as a hairline fracture and the winger has been on the wings of Hopkin’s squad ever since.

But there is good news on the horizon for the Bantams boss with the prospect of Scannell returning to the fold earlier than anticipated.

The diagnosis has always leaned towards mid-February but Hopkin and the player himself are both optimistic of a comeback by the end of this month.

Hopkin said: “It’s been a massive blow not having Sean about the squad.

“But now he’s at the stage where he is a few weeks ahead of schedule.

“He’s in the gym now doing a lot of work. So hopefully, he’ll be back in contention to start playing football again in the next three weeks.

“That will be great for us – it will be like having another new signing.”

With the heavy emphasis on injury prevention as much as building fitness levels under the expert eye of City number two Anton McElhone, there will be no rushing Scannell back.

Having been limited to just 12 appearances since his summer arrival, Hopkin wants a fully fit and firing player to offer the width that his squad currently lacks.

Sherwin Seedorf and Ellis Hudson have both gone and Jordan Gibson is still finding his way back to fitness, leaving City minus any winger until Scannell is available.

But Hopkin will make sure he is good and ready before coming back into the League One reckoning.

“We just need to make sure that when he does come back he is fully ready and that he’s fit,” added the City chief.

“He should be because he’s been looked after by the physios Chris (Royston) and Dayle (Avison).

“Hopefully when he gets back in the routine of things, he’ll be doing a few weeks with Anton. That will make sure he has no niggling injuries or anything likely to keep him out.”

City have had to adapt without any natural wide men, switching effectively between using wing-backs or a triangular “Christmas tree” formation.

So there will be no guarantees of an immediate call to arms for Scannell – but that competition for places is just what Hopkin wants.

He said: “Everybody has seen that the players are playing with confidence. The fitness levels are getting there and getting better every week.

“Having players back, it makes it harder to get back into the team.

“It’s not a case now where people are coming back from injury and we’re desperate to get them straight back in.

“We’ve got a competitive team at the moment and our fitness levels are probably at their peak.

“As long as we can maintain that, it just adds more competition.

“We want to make sure that when people do come back from injury, it’s going to be difficult for them to come back in because the competition is there.”

The intensity of City’s training regime is paying off on the pitch with the recent upsurge in form.

Tuesday sessions, when there is no midweek game, are viewed with trepidation within the squad because of the punishing work involved.

But Hopkin has no intention of easing off with his demands. If anything, the levels will keep going up to sort out who will flourish under him – and who won’t.

He said: “You make training harder and raise the bar. There’s more discipline.

“The players who want to progress in their career will come with you.

“The ones who have maybe not got that mindset will probably move on. These things are quite easy to sort out.

“The players in the squad now are the ones that have took on board the hard work that I demand. They have all got better, fitter and stronger.

“I want to see players progress and the ones that I have coached have matured and grown up.”