Carlisle United manager stepping up pursuit of free agents

United’s boss says the door has not been closed on certain players he has been looking at.

Simpson says he will continue his efforts to persuade some of them to join the Blues.

“We’ve been exploring [this] for a couple of weeks already,” said Simpson.

“We haven’t been told ‘No’ on a few that we’re going for.

“I’m going to keep banging away until I get something in or get told a definite no.

“It’s not easy to do it because we’re looking at players who have played at a higher level than where we are now.

“Our league position doesn’t make it look very attractive, but I think there are so many positive things going on with the talk of what the football club could be looking like [after the prospective Piataks’ takeover], and hopefully that will be to our benefit and we can get some people through the door.”

Simpson wants to reinforce his injury-hit squad with midfield now an area of increased focus after Callum Guy was ruled out for the season with an ACL injury.

United’s boss, though, has not yet thought about using the Blues’ 28-day recall option on Jayden Harris, who is on loan with Eastleigh.

“I haven’t considered that yet,” Simpson said. “We’ll have to look into that.

United could recall Jayden Harris after 28 days of his Eastleigh loan in order to bolster midfield numbers, but Simpson says he hasn't considered that yet (Image: Ben Holmes)

“We made an agreement with Eastleigh. Obviously Jayden got sent off last weekend so he’s suspended.

“We’ll assess it all as we go along over the next few weeks.”

On the need to cope without Guy and his options available, Simpson added: “It’s [now] a different option for us. We’ve got to approach it differently.

“We do have players who can go in and do that role. It’s just about finding the right mix in that midfield and getting the right blend in there.

“It also puts us in a position where it’s probably now another area where we are going to have to strengthen.

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“I was already looking for another midfielder to come into the club whether that be now or January.

“Now this scenario has just given us another little issue. We can’t get upset about it, we’ve just got to deal with it as quickly and as well as we possibly can.”

Simpson and United are continuing to make plans for the January transfer window.

“We’ve got lists in each of the positions, and we’re probably like everybody else – they might have a list of six players, you ideally want your target number one but may have to go to target number two, and that’s the way we’re working,” the manager added.

“We’re already in discussions with agents about players who might be available and whether we are an option for them.

“We’re going to keep doing that, doing everything we possibly can to make this group better.

“I think if the takeover happens it will give us an even better chance, but even if it doesn’t happen we’ll still be in a position where we can go and strengthen the group.”