TEENAGE talent Reece Staunton has been tipped to break through into Stuart McCall’s City plans.

McCall is still in the dark over when the club will be able to get going again.

League Two teams are waiting for the EFL to act on the recent indicative vote to end the suspended season early.

Those clubs currently occupying play-off spots are starting to come back to training in preparation for playing the promotion deciders behind closed doors.

City and the rest are hanging on for a clearer indication from the governing body over when next season might begin. Until then, recruitment plans remain on hold across the division.

But the changing financial landscape could offer a greater chance for youngsters coming through the ranks – and highly-rated Staunton is expected to make his mark.

Staunton made club history when McCall gave him his debut in November 2017.

The defender came off the bench in an EFL Trophy tie against Rotherham at the age of just 15 years and 332 years – the youngest to ever play for City.

Staunton made his full debut the following season under David Hopkin in the same competition at home to Oldham.

In the campaign just gone, the 18-year-old played 45 minutes in a Trophy game against Manchester City under-21s.

He also had loan spells at Ossett United and Bradford (Park Avenue), where his performances were praised by boss Mark Bower.

Gary Bowyer recognised Staunton’s promise when the youngster signed his first pro contract on Christmas Eve last year, tying him to Valley Parade until the end of the 2021/2022 season.

And Staunton made a fresh impression on McCall before football was locked down.

The Bantams chief said: “I obviously knew Reece from when I was here before.

“But I’ve been impressed when he has come and trained with us.

“He’s adaptable because he can play left back, left centre half in a three and can sit in front of the back four. He’s got a really good passing range.”

Staunton was likely to have been given another opportunity before the end of the season.

City had dropped out of the play-offs when League Two stopped with nine games left and McCall might have been tempted to cast an eye on some of the youngsters in the closing weeks if they had failed to break back into the top seven.

McCall is expecting four of the current youth crop to be promoted to the senior squad when City can eventually get going again.

He added: “I’ve been really impressed with a couple of them in the Burnley and Blackburn (behind-closed-doors) games that we played.

“We’ve had three of them training with us before the season was stopped, which has been good experience.

“I didn’t have much chance to watch the youth team play unfortunately.

“Last time we were here, we had a big squad and had a (under) 23s team, who were playing every Tuesday.

“They were having games all the time so we could see lads like Dan Pybus and Omari Patrick in match situations."