Carlisle United boss Chris Beech says he is still an admirer of Nathan Thomas even though a return to Brunton Park for the attacker has not materialised.

Thomas, who spent last season on loan with the Cumbrians, is yet to figure for a club this campaign after leaving Sheffield United.

It’s understood there was contact between the respective parties in the close season but Beech hinted that any possible move then had been beyond Carlisle’s financial reach.

United have since moved on, with their subsequent recruitment bearing fruit with a climb to fifth in League Two ahead of tonight's trip to Oldham.

Beech said, though, that 26-year-old Thomas is still a player he likes and did not rule out something in the future.

Carlisle can still sign free agents despite the transfer window closing last Friday and, asked if Thomas was still a player under consideration, Beech said: “You speak with these players at the start of lockdown.

“Nathan, I have so much respect for. He got seven goals and four assists in 22 games, and scored his first hat-trick in the league [at Forest Green] when he was playing for me.

“Of course I know what he’s very good at and what he can do, along with other players the press have mentioned.

“They’re good players. But when we get to a point in times of ‘what’s happening?’, what they want to do is beyond our finance structure.

“Then, as time goes on, we’ve already recruited. And it’s difficult now.

“But Nathan’s attributes – skill, left foot like a rocket, can take players on – you always hear me telling my forward players to take people on, that’s what I want to see.

“Who knows? But these things somehow balance out in time.”

Thomas had a spell training with Doncaster in the summer but did not earn a deal with the League One outfit.

He made 41 appearances for Carlisle last season, scoring 10 goals, after also spending the second half of the 2018/19 campaign at Brunton Park.

Carlisle have used the loan market for their most recent attacking reinforcements, with Huddersfield's Micah Obiero joining last Friday following the shoulder injury to another young loanee, Preston's Ethan Walker.