BURY boss David Flitcroft left the door open for a possible move for Ricardo Vaz Te after admitting the former Bolton Wanderers, Barnsley and West Ham striker was training with the club.

The 28-year-old forward scored 12 goals in 24 appearances at Oakwell under the guidance of Flitcroft in the 2011/12 Championship season.

The most prolific period of his career followed a stop-start seven-year apprenticeship at Bolton under Sam Allardyce, which was followed by a brief spell at Hibernian.

Vaz Te’s six-month stint at Barnsley convinced Allardyce to give him a shot in the Premier League with the Hammers and he spent three years at Upton Park, scoring 19 times in 61 matches.

But the Portuguese front man is without a club after moving to Turkish side Akhisar B on a short-term contract in January.

And Flitcroft said he was only too happy to assist when Vaz Te called asking for help with his fitness.

“Ricardo Vaz Te had a very successful spell with us at Barnsley, very successful, obviously he got his move to West Ham through it,” he said on Tuesday night, after the striker was spotted in the directors’ box at Gigg Lane.

“Guy Procter, our strength and conditioning coach got a call off him – he wanted some help and support and wanted to have a tough time in terms of getting fit.

“There is no easy way to get fit. He’d been trying to get fit on his own and needed some help and support in doing that.

“He has trained at Carrington today with Guy Procter and been sick.

“He’s had a really tough day, probably wished he hadn’t come up now.

“We will give him as much help as we can and see where that is at, but this is really about helping someone who did fantastic for me.”

If Flitcroft is tempted to bolstering his attacking ranks he may have to make room in his squad, which already includes six strikers.

Summer signings Leon Clarke and Tom Pope have shown signs of developing a promising partnership up front in the first four games of the season, while youngsters Danny Rose and Hallam Hope have both been used from the bench.

Veteran strikers Ryan Lowe (ankle) and Danny Nardiello (back) remain sidelined with injuries.

Flitcroft confirmed he is looking to strengthen, either before the transfer window closes a week on Tuesday or when the loan window reopens seven days after that.

Yet his biggest problems are in defence, after shipping six goals in Saturday’s draw at home to Swindon and defeat against Fleetwood on Tuesday night.

“If there is something out there that is different or makes us more productive and effective then we are looking, so that doesn’t stop, whether that’s a loan player of a permanent deal,” said Flitcroft, who has no experienced cover for centre-back pairing Nathan Cameron and Peter Clarke.

“We have a strategy and recruitment meeting on Thursday.

“We have certainly not got that strength in depth that we need but we will look at that on Thursday and see where that takes us.”