Paul Simpson has confirmed that Carlisle United are running the rule over three trialists – but he’s not naming them yet.

The Blues boss said the trio of hopefuls had linked up with the squad for the early stages of pre-season training.

He is considering fielding them in United’s first pre-season friendly at Annan Athletic on Friday.

But Simpson said he will be scrutinising the players in training this week before making a decision on that.

“We’ve got three in at the moment. And we'll have a little look at them,” said Carlisle’s manager.

“They may be involved on Friday night and we'll wait and see on that.

“There's a lot of sessions to go before Friday, but there's areas of the squad that needs strengthening and we've got an opportunity to have a look at them before we do anything so that that – it gives us a bit of a head start.”

Asked if he was prepared to name the trialists, Simpson said: “Not at the moment, no.

“I may name them on Friday or they may just go down as ‘A Trialist’, I don't know yet.

“I want to see how they go over the week, really. And then we'll decide from there.”

Simpson is keen to add more players to his squad, with certain positions of particular focus.

The Cumbrians are short of attacking options following summer departures, while they are expected to be keen to bring in another senior goalkeeper after second-choice Michael Kelly was released.