Walsall boss Jimmy Mullen insists the door isn’t closed on trialist Marco Reich despite his absence from Tuesday’s friendly with Villa.
Mullen revealed the former Derby and Crystal Palace midfielder is honouring a long-standing agreement to link up with Austrian side Sturm Graz.
He said: “Marco had a commitment to a friend of his who is a coach at Sturm Graz. He has been spending a few days over there with them.
“It was a previous commitment he had promised to make. But Marco is not out of the picture yet, I will be talking to him.”
Mullen is yet to make up his mind on whether to make the stays of fellow trialists Georges Ba, Patrick Suffo and Chris Palmer permanent.
Former Sheffield United and Coventry striker Suffo replaced Ba in the 52nd-minute substitute of the Banks’s Stadium 3-2 defeat to Martin O’Neill’s side.
Both showed signs of promise, with Cameroon international Suffo volleying a spectacular second for the Saddlers.
“To be fair to Suffo, he has come in at a time where he has literally done nothing for six weeks. Since he has been with us his pre-season, he has just started so he is playing catch-up at the moment.
“As for Georges, he proved in the 45-50 minutes he was on that he can be a real handful. He is a powerful boy.”
Ex-Derby defender Palmer also put in another assured display, which will have done his chances of earning a contract no harm.
He said: “Palmer has done very well. We said that we would give him two or three weeks to have a look. He played well against Hednesford and he played well against Worcester.
“The Villa game was a big test for him and it was a good yardstick for me from my point of view, to see the sort of level that Chris can reach.”
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