SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown has refused to rule out making a summer swoop for local lad Billy Knott.

The 23-year-old, from Canvey Island, is available on a free transfer after being released by Bradford City.

And Brown insisted he would be interested in holding talks with the attacking midfielder.

“I’ve been made aware of Billy’s availability and I certainly wouldn’t mind having a chat with him about his plans,” said the Blues boss.

“But I’m not going to just sign somebody because they’re local they have to have the right attributes and mentality that we want at this football club.”

Knott – a former England under 20 international – scored eight goals in 79 appearances for Bradford during the past two seasons but is now looking for a new club.

However, Brown is not short of options in midfield.

“Midfielder is an area we already have a lot of players in so it’s certainly not a priority for us this summer,” said the 56-year-old.

“We have Ryan Leonard, Will Atkinson, Michael Timlin and Anthony Wordsworth on the books so we do have options in there and a contract offer has been made to Franck Moussa too.”

Moussa ended last season back with Blues, scoring on his only appearance at Bury on the final day of the campaign.

But the Belgian midfielder has yet to decide if he will be staying with the Shrimpers and neither has striker Noel Hunt who has also been offered a new deal.

“We’re still waiting to hear back from Franck and Noel but it’s always quite quiet at this time of year,” said Brown.

“Lots of people are away on holiday but we’ve put offers in and have are ducks lined up in terms of new signing too.”

However, Blues have a fight on their hands to sign one of their striking targets as six other clubs are now also interested in securing his signature.