Former Grimsby Town central defender Georges Santos is set to join the Blues' pre-season tour. The 32-year-old is being seen as a replacement for Thomas Gaardsøe who misses the tour with an ankle injury picked up at Southend on Tuesday.

Town boss Joe Royle says the trip to Scandinavia can provide him with a chance to assess Santos and for Santos to assess Town: "We are hopeful of getting Santos out to Sweden to join us. He is in talks with a French club at the moment but he has indictated he wants to come out so we can take a close look at each other."

Town still look a little short of experience at the heart of defence with Gaardsøe injured and John McGreal still not fully fit after his knee injury towards the end of last season.

Santos, born in Marseille but a Cape Verde Islands international, has also played for Tranmere, West Brom and Sheffield United. The 6'3" occasional midfielder turned down a new deal at Grimsby at the end of last season and is out of contract.

The Town squad left for Sweden this morning, Joe Royle and Willie Donachie having watched the reserves win at Framlingham last night.

Missing from the travelling party are Jermaine Wright (groin), Matt Richards (hamstring), John McGreal (recovering from knee injury), Matt Bloomfield (knee) and Gaardsøe. Joe Royle is not taking Andy Marshall and James Pullen while Matteo Sereni is still in Italy, presumably searching frantically for his missing passport.

Travelling squad: Price, Broto, Wilnis, Makin, Diallo, Collins, Naylor, Nash, Santos, Murray, Magilton, Miller, Reuser, Westlake, Abidallah, Armstrong, M Bent, D Bent, Couñago and Bowditch.

Photo: Action Images

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