League Two sleeping giants Bradford City have joined the race for Crystal Palace winger Scott Banks, according to a report from Alan Nixon.

The Bantams are in the market for another wide player following a serious injury suffered to new recruit Emmanuel Osadebe, who suffered a double leg break early on in the club's curtain-raiser this past weekend against Doncaster Rovers.

And Mark Hughes has now set his sights on Banks, who has also been the subject of interest from Bradford's divisional rivals Hartlepool United recently.

The West Yorkshire outfit are now looking to pip Paul Hartley's side to the signature of the 20-year-old Scotsman, with an initial enquiry already made into his availability with the Eagles.

Banks, who joined Palace from Dundee United in 2020 and is a Scotland under-21 international, was in fine form during the Premier League 2 season in 2021-22, scoring 10 times in 17 appearances.

Despite being named on the bench for Crystal Palace's opening Premier League match last season against Chelsea, Banks is yet to make his senior debut, and now he could head to Valley Parade for the season to enhance his development.

The Verdict

Banks is clearly an exciting talent having plundered in 10 goals for Palace's under-23's last season, but a stint in the EFL will be crucial to his development.

Hartlepool, who were the first club interested in the wide player, are now probably powerless to stop Banks from heading to Bradford as the size difference of the two outfits is huge.

It's in unfortunate circumstances as to why Bradford want to bring in another winger due to Osadebe's horror injury at the weekend, but the club have the size and scope to push the boat out and get someone very talented due to how big they are.

If it's a battle between just Bradford and Hartlepool for Banks, then the chances are that he's going to choose the former.