Notts County are understood to be interested in Sheffield United's Zak Brunt, whose loan at National League rivals Southend United has come to an end.
Brunt made 10 appearances during a three-month loan spell with the Shrimpers and featured for the full 90 minutes on the right of midfield at Meadow Lane last month during the Magpies ' 4-1 win.
Before joining Southend in late October, the attacking midfielder had scored three times for their Under-23s, adding to the nine goals racked up in the 2020/21 season at that level.
That loan was the 20-year-old's first since signing at Bramall Lane back in 2018.
Before the end of the stint, he told The Echo: "I need to speak to the gaffer [at Southend] and Sheffield United and see what’s going on for me.
"My goal at the end of the day is to play for Sheffield United. We’ll talk about the next step and if that’s staying at Southend United then I’d be more than happy to do so.
"But if it’s going somewhere else or going back to Sheff U that will have to be the case so we’ll see."
Manager Ian Burchnall, on the subject of keeping hold of Jayden Richardson, spoke about Notts looking to continue to use the loan market.
"When you bring in loan players they need to be able to get game time and feel we can contribute to their development for their parent club.
"If we can do that then we are continually going to get good players given to us."
