Walsall boss bids to thrash out deal for James Chambers

Walsall boss Dean Smith today revealed he will hold further talks with James Chambers after the defender's emergency signing.

The former Albion star made his debut in Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Doncaster after the Saddlers swooped to plug their defensive gap.

Richard Taundry pulled out with a thigh injury meaning Chambers, who has been training with Walsall, signed on non-contract terms to play.

And Smith will now speak to the 31-year-old, twin brother of Saddlers midfielder Adam, to try to thrash out a longer deal.

He said: "We'll still be negotiating with James this week. It's non-contract at the moment and we'll see where we go with it.

"We signed him on Friday but it's only on a short-term deal. Richard had pulled out with a thigh strain so we needed him and he stepped up to the plate for us."

Chambers has been training with the Saddlers this summer after his release from Doncaster as Smith looks to rebuild his squad.

He is still looking to add to his ranks but admitted to being thwarted in his attempts to strengthen further.

"We are where we are. I'm looking to strengthen all the time," he said, as goals from Brown, David Cotterill and Kyle Bennett downed the Saddlers in their opening League One game.

"It's not as if we haven't asked. It's not just whether they want to come but it's whether we can afford them and we've had knockbacks but we're looking all the time.

"Everyone says I need a big centre-forward but I would have needed a 6ft 7in forward to play against their big centre-halves on Saturday.

"I've got two big centre-halves in Andy Butler and Dean Holden who can handle that. We're looking to get the ball down and play and we have a certain style with how we want to do things."

The Saddlers also suffered a further blow when new striker Febian Brandy limped off just seven minutes after coming on in the second half.

Smith added: "It looks like a hamstring problem. He got pulled back, there was no booking for their player and he pulled his hamstring so it's a double whammy for us."