BURY boss David Flitcroft could offer a contract to former Bolton Wanderers player Neil Danns after inviting him to train with the club during pre-season.

The 33-year-old centre-midfielder featured in the Shakers' 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday at Morecambe – part of a three-way tournament that saw a Bury XI also lose 4-0 to the hosts.

Danns has been on trial for the past two weeks following his release from the Macron Stadium outfit.

Flitcroft will not be rushed into signing him, saying he wants to assess all of his options in the transfer market as he continues to rebalance the squad ahead of the new season.

Bury have an array of talent in central midfield, with the likes of Tom Soares, Jacob Mellis, Kelvin Etuhu and Andrew Tutte all battling it out for a starting position.

 "Danns came with us to Portugal,” Flitcroft confirmed. “He gave me a call and did a week with us. He has been training well and it's a possibility but it all depends on the outs and incomings.

“It has been great to asses his fitness and everyone knows the quality that he has got so it might be a possibility.

“We took a couple of trialists to Portugal. We had to make sure we had the right number to train and all the lads were good.”

Flitcroft took the opportunity to run the rule over Danns and fellow trialist Micky Demetriou, the ex-Shrewsbury defender, during Saturday's one-day tournament.

Former Doncaster defender Richard Chaplow also featured for the Shakers but it is understood he will not be signing on at Gigg Lane and is currently in talks with an American club.

A depleted Bury side suffered successive defeats at the Globe Area.

Danny Graham scored the only goal in the Shakers' defeat to Rovers a 1-0 victory in the opening game of the day before a young side, which contained only two senior professionals in Tom Soares and Tom Pope, were well beaten by Morecambe.

The depleted Shakers were missing star winger Danny Mayor, who continues to recover from a broken foot suffered in the final game of last season against Southend.

Skipper Nathan Cameron was also absent as he continues his recovery from a knee injury, while new signing Anthony Kay was unavailable after picking up a hamstring injury while playing in a training match against Wigan in Portugal.

Tutte also missed out through injury while Peter Clarke was completing his transfer to Oldham.