Former Manchester United striker James Wilson joins Salford City on transfer deadline day

The former Man Utd striker left the club for Aberdeen last year but failed to find the back of the net in 16 appearances.

Former Manchester United forward James Wilson has become the sixth addition of a busy January transfer window for Salford City, as boss Graham Alexander targets a late surge into the League Two promotion fold.

The 24-year-old appeared 15 times for the Reds after making his debut in 2014 and now returns to Greater Manchester on an 18-month deal, departing Aberdeen on a free transfer.

Wilson, who had three loan spells in the Championship between 2015 to 2018 before moving to Scotland at the beginning of last season, has not arrived at the Peninsula in time for the Ammies’ trip to Port Vale tomorrow afternoon.

Alexander said ahead of the fixture: “When you’ve got the momentum going and you’re winning games the players want to be out there as soon as possible. There’s still plenty to play for this season and we need to put runs of results together, that’s the main challenge.”

Salford enter the fixture on the back of a comprehensive 4-0 victory away at Cambridge United in midweek – a result that saw the home side part company with manager Colin Calderwood – and Alexander is eager to see his team continue from where they left off.

“The players played very well; it was a fantastic result which was even more pleasing after the disappointment against Oldham. It would have been easy to take that forward into Tuesday but that wasn’t the case and the players did themselves proud.

“We want to continue it [versus Vale]. We’ve played them twice this season and they’ve both been tough games. It’s a tough venue to go to, but we have to repeat what we did on Tuesday and go there confident in what we’ve been doing of late.”

Alexander concluded by heaping praise on his new recruits, with Michael O’Connor, Tom Elliott and Ashley Hunter all on the scoresheet within the Ammies’ last four fixtures.

“All of them have made really good impressions on the first team and they’ve added to the quality that we have. There’s a lot more to come from them. They’ve settled in really well; the group we have are fantastic and they’re always welcoming to new players, so it’s an easy group to go and join.”

Salford are expected to make the trip to the Midlands without Nathan Pond after he gained an injury versus Cambridge United, whilst Elliott is also a doubt with a minor knock.