Chester will look to strengthen their forward line over the coming weeks, whether Jordan Archer remains at the club or not.

Joint-manager Anthony Johnson confirmed there was interest in the 24-year-old striker following Saturday’s pre-season friendly defeat to Liverpool, with a bid understood to have been tabled by a National League club which comes close to Chester's asking price.

A previous offer from Southport was rejected by the Blues a fortnight ago, but Archer has made no secret of the fact he is looking for a return to a full-time club, with the Blues having reverted to a part-time structure since the appointment of Bernard Morley and Johnson.

Archer scored four goals in 19 appearances last season for Chester and has a year to run on his current deal.

Addressing the need to bolster their attacking options, Johnson explained: “Up front, we have one centre forward at the club in Jordan Archer.

“We don't know how long he is going to be at the club for in the sense of there is interest.

“Even if Jordan does stay at the football club, we will be looking at bringing in a couple of forwards, minimum, with him staying.

“From the top of League One to non-league level, everybody is looking for the same thing, that forward that promises you an amount of goals.

“Hence the reason your Andy Cook's have taken a two-league jump. We're looking for them but we are looking more that fits the profile as opposed to ‘who has scored 30 goals, can we sign him?' We need someone we can mould into what we want.

“We’re very light at centre-back, we’ve got two centre-backs in Steve Howson and John Moran. Young Alex (Downes) went in there and did a great job but we are very light.

“There’s an imbalance to the squad and there’s targets we need to start nailing down. We’ll maybe be looking at three to four new signings coming in over the next couple of weeks.”

Johnson admits reinforcements are required ahead of the National League North campaign, but both he and Morley remain satisfied with the XI that began the 7-0 defeat against Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, in front of a near full-house at the Swansway Chester Stadium.

“You probably worked out the first-half XI were all senior players, so outside of the scholars from last year, the trialists and the academy lads, we’ve literally got 11 first-team players,” he added.

“Of that, we’ve got lads like Jon Pritchard (22), John Moran (21), young players all over the place.

“I keep repeating myself and I don’t want to, but we won’t be pressured into signing players. That first XI we put out in the first-half we are more than happy with.

“The young lads came on and showed that bit of spark and grit.

“We want to go and make a serious noise next season. There’s an imbalance to the squad and there’s areas of quality we need to strengthen and improve.”