PAUL Carden hopes Ben Garrity’s decision to stay with Warrington Town will inspire transfer targets to sign for the club.

The highly-rated midfielder sprung a surprise by signing a two-year contract with the club, thus ending intense speculation that he may try his hand at a higher level.

> Massive coup for Yellows as Garrity pens new deal

Yellows boss Carden says he has been asked about Garrity by several of the players he has spoken to about joining the club.

He now hopes having him on board will convince potential new signings about the quality of squad they could be joining.

“Two players who we’ve met with a view to coming in – both of whom play in midfield and played in the league above last year – asked what Ben was doing,” he said.

“That in itself tells you that players are doing their homework and seeing the type of feedback Ben has had.

“They see his goals and speak to their mates who play against him and they know how important he is.

“People in the know in our league will know that he makes us a hell of a lot stronger.

“That’s taking nothing away from anyone else – we’re a team, not a one-man show.

“Players who play in his position will know how tough an opponent he is.”

After Garrity’s decision to stay, left-back Alex Whittle is the only member of last season’s Yellows squad whose future has not yet been decided.

> 'It feels like a weight off my shoulders' – Garrity on why he is staying with Yellows

Robbie Evans, Adam Hughes and Marcus Cusani have moved on, but the remainder of Carden’s players have committed to staying at Cantilever Park.

The Town boss admits he is surprised to have kept so much of the squad together and admits to “dreading” the thought of losing the majority of his side.

He also highlighted the area in which he is the most keen to recruit, with winger Alex Byrne being their only new signing to date.

“Centre midfield is obviously a key area for us in terms of bringing people in,” he said.

“Attacking wise we’re very strong but we’re probably a little bit light centrally and at left-back, depending on what Alex Whittle decides to do.

“I’m very pleased with where we’re up to, not just in terms of numbers but in terms of quality as well.

“The aim was to keep the majority of our players but to be honest, I was dreading this pre-season especially because we didn’t go up.

“There has been a lot of calls and messages from managers about our players and we’ve had to fight a lot off.

“I am surprised by how many we have managed to keep.

“For the last few weeks of the season, there were clubs here every week watching the players – from Conference North clubs right up to Football League teams.

“The players obviously heard of the interest but thankfully, the majority of them decided to stay.”

Yellows will return to pre-season training ahead of the 2019/20 campaign on Tuesday, July 2, with their first friendly match coming at Skelmersdale United on July 16.