Harrogate Town in talks with forward, while FC Halifax Town confirm Sulphurites have bid for Josh Hmami

The Sulphurites have already recruited nine new faces following their relegation from League Two on the final day of last season, but Simon Weaver is not finished yet in terms of his squad rebuild.

The Town boss told the Harrogate Advertiser last month that a left-back was top of his wish list, but it appears that his immediate priority is adding goals.

The Halifax Courier reported on Saturday afternoon that Shaymen boss John McGrath had confirmed that he had reluctantly accepted a bid from Harrogate for free-scoring midfielder Hmami, while Weaver himself revealed that he is also closing in on another attacking player.

“We are talking to two lads and hopefully we will get them in for next weekend,” he told BBC Radio York.

"There is a forward who we are talking to, who has a good record and is an exciting player.

"We want to add competition for places because we need to score goals to be successful. We need to score more goals.”

Hmami is a graduate of Accrington Stanley’s youth system, who found the back of the net 12 times and chipped in with six assists during 42 National League appearances for Halifax last term.

He operates primarily as an attacking midfielder but can also play off the left, and looks like he could be a direct replacement for Reece Smith, who joined League Two Walsall last week for an undisclosed fee.

"We've had a bid from Harrogate," Halifax chief McGrath told the Halifax Courier. "There's been a bid that meets the valuation we have of the player.

"Josh, for whatever reason, wants to move on and sees his football career elsewhere. We've had discussions about it over the last couple of weeks.

"Josh came to me a couple of weeks back and expressed his desire to leave the football club. We didn't want him to go, and that was followed up by an official handing in of a transfer request.

"Josh had been fantastic during my short spell with him, his training's been spot on, he's done everything I've asked, he's trained really well, he's played really well, so we didn’t want to lose him.”

So far this summer, Town have brought in goalkeeper Rory Watson, defenders Tom Lees, Archie Baptiste and Lewis Payne, midfielders Bailey Hobson, Will McGowan and Morgan Williams, and forwards Ciaran McGuckin and Rohan Vaughan.

But, they have also seen a number of players move on in addition to the nine players released upon the expiry of their contracts at the end of last season.

Jack Evans, Reece Smith and Chanse Headman were all snapped up by Football League sides, while experienced centre-half Anthony O’Connor departed last week after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.