Fleetwood manager Joey Barton has insisted that both Ashley Nadesan and Jack Sowerby will be in his first-team plans - despite Carlisle United's hopes of re-signing the pair.

Striker Nadesan returned to his League One parent club this week while Sowerby's half-season loan at Carlisle is up at the end of this month.

The Blues want to extend Sowerby's loan for the season and are not giving up on the possibility of a fresh move for Nadesan, who is attracting interest from other League Two clubs.

Barton, though, said he will consider both for a place at Highbury.

"I said to both of them [Nadesan and Sowerby] in the summer that they weren’t in a position to start games," the Fleetwood manager said on his club's website.

"It would’ve been easy for me to keep them both in house but it wasn’t the right thing to do for both players.

"They always knew they were going on loan to give themselves playing time, gain confidence to come back and play in our first team.

“For me, having Nadesan back is like having a new signing.

"He’s done really well on loan, he comes back here as a first team player.

"I had a good chat with him yesterday, and said to him that he left the building as a young player looking to get minutes, and you come back here having got them and that confidence, and he has a bit more of a manliness about him and he’s a potential starter for the weekend’s game.

“When Jack comes back he’ll be in the same boat."

United today signed Preston striker Connor Simpson on a half-season loan and are hoping to bring Rotherham's Jerry Yates back to Brunton Park.

Director of football David Holdsworth recently said a "deal in principle" was in place to extend Sowerby's terms, while the midfielder himself has said he is happy at Carlisle.

The Blues are also looking at other potential targets.

Barton also spoke about Fleetwood's west Cumbrian ex-United star Kyle Dempsey, who has been loaned to Peterborough.

He said he hoped the Posh move would help Dempsey "regain the swagger he had a couple of years ago."

Barton added: "He [Dempsey] needs to play football. He’s somebody that hasn’t started a lot of games for us.

"He’s got the opportunity to do that at Peterborough should he forge his way into their team. We wish him all the best and we’ll see how he is when he gets back in the summer.

“Kyle played a lot before I came to the club, he’s found himself out of the team this season and he wants to play football so I can’t stand in his way.

"He wants to develop and you can’t do that sitting on the bench every week."