Stafford manager Chris Brindley may have to sacrifice one of his current first-team squad in a bid to keep new signing Chris Flynn at the club.

Flynn rejoined Rangers in time to make his debut at Harrogate and immediately proved his worth, netting two splendid free-kicks in a 3-3 draw at Wetherby Road.

A free agent since his release from Northwich, the midfielder is on the shortest of short-term deals – set to expire after tommorow’s trip to Hucknall in the Blue Square North.

The 21-year-old is well known to the Marston Road faithful, he only left the club in the summer to stay in the Blue Square Premier after Rangers were relegated.

His return immediately fills the void left by Dean Craven’s return to Bromsgrove and Brindley is desperate to keep him, but admits he may not be able to.

So the boss may have to bite the bullet – and usher a player out to keep Flynn in.

Brindley said: “Chris is here initially for these two games, he has come to help us out with that. We would love to keep him, we would love to have him here for the season, but for that to happen it looks like we may have to get rid of somebody.

“He is a player we are trying to keep, but whether we can do that or not is another thing. It is difficult, because we have players under contract who compose a large part of the budget, so there is not a lot of room for manoeuvre.

“I have told him we will sit down when these two games are over and see what we can work out.”

There are no obvious candidates for the chop at Marston Road, and a club would have to be interested in a specific player to speed up a move.

Brindley can’t really afford to lose players anywhere but Flynn’s role in midfield is another gap that will need plugging if he leaves.

For the Rangers boss, it is another juggling act he will have to perform.

He said: “There has been a bit of interest in certain players but nothing concrete as yet. For anybody to leave, the deal would have to be right for us and would certainly have to tie in with me bringing who I want in.

“We cannot be cut to the bone any more, we are down to the bare essentials of the squad as it is.”