CITY will consider bringing in a free agent with the money freed up by Ollie Crankshaw’s sale.

Derek Adams this afternoon confirmed that he will look at the possibility of bringing in an available player following Crankshaw’s departure.

Adams said the money from the winger’s move to the National League side – and the wages saved – will open the door.

“I’ve obviously got money in the budget now to spend and can do that,” he said.

“They’ve got to be the right player if they are around. But it’s an opportunity.”

The new scouting network, who start tomorrow, will be tasked with identifying potential targets.

“The problem we’ve got with the free-agency market is how long the players have not been playing for,” admitted Adams.

“We’re in a similar scenario with a couple of signings we’ve made in Caolan Lavery and Theo Robinson in that they haven’t played a lot of football.

“It’s how quickly can you get them fit and they don’t get injured? That’s the difficult period at this moment in time.

“We’ve got to be careful but I’m not ruling it out.”

Stockport were keen on Crankshaw before he joined the Bantams in January. They had made several enquiries since and came in with an offer last week.

Adams said: “I thought it was acceptable to the football club. Ollie has played 93 minutes in the league this season and it enables us to have extra money in the budget going forward.

“I’ve got to make a decision and I understand the ones coming back (from injury) might be back in two, three or four weeks.

“If I didn’t allow Ollie to go to Stockport, we would have lost out on a transfer fee and a wage that could be quite useful further down the line.”

Charles Vernam was back in training today and will be in the squad to face Rochdale at Valley Parade.

But he is the only one of the absentees ready to return with Robinson currently ill - which meant the striker missed the team photo on Tuesday.