BRADFORD City manager Graham Alexander says that Barnsley's style switch under Daniel Stendel opened the doors to allowing Corey O'Keeffe to head to Valley Parade with contact first made last week.

The Reds' full-back become the club's 12th and final summer arrival after joining on a permanent deal from the Reds.

Speaking after City's 2-1 League One home reverse to Cambridge United, Alexander said: "We spoke to him last week and his versatility of being able to play on both sides is important to us.

"Obviously Tyreik (Wright) is injured at the minute, so we didn't particularly want to just bring in an individual left wing-back to compete with Ibby (Touray).

"When Corey's name came up and we knew he could play both sides, it seemed a logical player to bring in.

"He's at a good age and he was really motivated to come to us when we spoke to him. He’s a good quality player that gives us options.”

On whether he was surprised Barnsley let him go, he added: "Very rarely am I surprised with recruitment or anything to do with football nowadays.

"There's obviously a new manager there, and they always come in with their own ideas and stuff like that.

Bradford City boss Graham Alexander. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

"I wouldn't say I was surprised because I don't look in depth at every other club and see what things are, but as soon as we get the opportunity to sign somebody or it comes to us, we look at it and judge it.

"Can they improve our squad? We felt that with Corey and we had to wait a few days to see if it was possible to do.

“It's been bubbling for maybe four or five days, so it was good that we finally got the green light earlier yesterday.”

Deadline day saw Stephen Humphreys remain at the club, despite interest from former club Wigan Athletic.

Alexander added: "I believe we've got the numbers now to compete for the next four or five months until January at least. I don't think if we lost a player now it would affect us adversely."