Walsall make their first signing of the January transfer window

Attacking midfielder Alex Pattison, 28, has joined the Saddlers from Bradford City for an undisclosed fee, signing an 18-month contract.

Walsall are expected to be busy this month following the recall of three loan players in the first week of January - including midfielder Ryan Finnigan by Blackpool - with Pattison the first man in the door at the Bescot.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be here,” he said. “The move happened quite quickly over the last few days and I’m just glad it’s all sorted now and I can get started and help the team who are doing really well at the minute.

"I spoke with Mat (Sadler, head coach) over the phone and we had some really positive conversations, he was eager to bring me in and highlighted his plans for me and what he wants me to bring to the team and it really appealed to me so as soon as those conversations were had I knew this is where I wanted to be.

“I’m an ambitious person, I’ve experienced the feeling of gaining promotion twice in my career and there’s no better feeling – I’ve got a taste for it again so I’m coming here wanting to do similar and hopefully I can play my part in helping the club achieve that.

“I’m looking forward to starting training with the lads, playing games for the club and I’ll give my best out there and showcase everything that I’m about.”

Pattison started his career at Middlesbrough and has also played for York City, Yeovil Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Harrogate Town.

He had been at Bradford since the summer of 2023, winning promotion to League One last summer and being heavily involved in the Bantams' League One campaign until the end of November, where he fell out of favour.

Head coach Mat Sadler added: "I’m really happy to secure Alex’s signature. Alex is a strong leader both off the pitch and in the midfield area, plays very box-to-box and likes to progress forwards with the ball. He’s an all-action midfielder and we’re delighted to have signed him – we’ve had to work extremely hard to do that among all the interest that he has had and we can’t wait for him to get started with us.”

The transfer is subject to FA and EFL approval.