Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson says the Blues were turned down by two free agents who played for the PFA last week.

Simpson says the club made “really good offers” to certain individuals who played for the players’ union team in a friendly game.

The Professional Footballers’ Association have been running a pre-season camp for out-of-contract players aimed at getting them in top shape to join new clubs.

United tried to take advantage of that but were knocked back, Simpson said.

“We always keep an eye on it,” he said of the free agent market.

“There were a couple of players who played in the game at Cambridge last week in the PFA team who we actually made offers to, but they chose not to come.

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“I've got to say, we made really good offers to them. They chose not to come, they were wanting to go higher and they still haven't got clubs.”

The PFA had an 18-man squad for the Cambridge United friendly.

Clockwise from top left: Dwight Gayle, Hakeeb Adelakun, Ravel Morrison and Martyn Waghorn were among the players with the PFA squad for their friendly against CambridgeClockwise from top left: Dwight Gayle, Hakeeb Adelakun, Ravel Morrison and Martyn Waghorn were among the players with the PFA squad for their friendly against Cambridge (Image: PA)

Those involved included veteran striker Dwight Gayle, former Manchester United man Ravel Morrison and the ex-Lincoln City winger Hakeen Adelakun, who last night joined Salford City.

Former Oxford United wide man Marcus Browne, ex-Derby County frontman Martyn Waghorn, ex-Fulham and Charlton Athletic defender Michael Hector and former Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson also featured.

They were joined by Jamal Blackman, Brendan Kiernan, Fankaty Dabo, Brooklyn Kabongolo, Charles Dunne, Kadeem Harris, Nesta Guinness-Walker, Alex Gorrin, Jordan Amissah and Toddy Kane.

The PFA have run a ten-week residential camp which is now coming to an end.

“We will keep an eye on it,” added Simpson, “but it's a really tricky one because, with the PFA camp finishing, if players are not training with a club it takes you two, three, four weeks to get them up to speed and available to play.

“Certainly in football management you don't always have a month to get them fit. We need them to hit the ground running.

“So that's the challenge and that was the beauty of signing Jordan Jones, in that he's been keeping himself fit and he's had a month at Wigan of training and playing and match minutes, so if he's selected he'll be ready to come into it.”