Carlisle United: Charlie Wyke drops Wigan Athletic transfer hint | OneFootball

The Blues could be recruiting another former Latin this summer.

Charlie Wyke has dropped a hint about Carlisle United potentially signing one of his former Wigan Athletic teammates, Jordan Jones.

Manager Paul Simpson revealed on Friday night, after his side's first pre-season game against Penrith, that the Blues were nearing a deal to bring in their seventh player of the summer window.

He added that the club had been looking at a range of attacking options, across the forward line.

"We're looking at forward areas, whether it be a forward-thinking, creative midfield player or whether it's a forward," said Simpson, via the News & Star.

"We've got some good options and if we're able to add some more to it then we will."

Their latest addition - the former Wigan, Sunderland and Bradford forward - has dropped a clue as to who one of these attacking additions could be.

Charlie Wyke's Carlisle United transfer hint

The 31-year-old put out an Instagram post after his return to Brunton Park was officially announced with the caption: "It's good to be back 💙 @officialcufc."

He had many former teammates congratulating him in the comments, but one particular interaction with ex-Latics winger Jordan Jones raised some eyebrows.

The Northern Irishman has been rumoured to be a target of the Blues for a lot of the summer.

He appeared 26 times, predominantly on the left-wing, for Wigan last season, starting 20 of them, and produced nine combined goals and assists for the League One outfit.

Wyke made his first outing in a United shirt on Friday since he left to join Bradford City in 2015, but he was forced off early after taking a whack on his shin just over a third of the way into the match.

Two notable omissions from that game wer Jack Armer and Alfie McCalmont, who are expected to leave Carlisle soon. Burton Albion are reported to have agreed a deal to buy Armer from United, according to Football Insider.

Jordan Jones would represent more good business from the Blues

Other than right wing-back, the only other base that United probably need to cover is players who can create chances for their forwards.

The options that Simpson has up front should be able to find the back of the net fairly often, but the likes of Wyke, Kelly and Armstrong need others to create chances for them most of the time.

The Blues currently don't have too many of those options in the squad, at least not obvious ones.

The 29-year-old winger showed last season that he is a good opportunity provider at the League One level, so that should translate well to fourth tier football, if he joins the Cumbrians.

He'd also provide more options, in terms of player profiles, for Simpson to use. Because of Jon Mellish's positional flexibility, Carlisle can often switch from a 3-5-2/5-3-2 to a 4-3-3 in game. But, without any natural wingers at the club, it makes that formational switch harder to do.

Adding Jones would give the boss that tactical option to switch shape in game, if he needed to, or if he just wanted to go with one central forward from the start and have the likes of the Northern Irishman providing width from the wings.