YORK City's new defender George Swan can be as dangerous in both boxes as his dad Peter used to be, according to Bootham Crescent boss Russ Wilcox.

Swan senior, who was a centre back himself, netted 68 times in 504 appearances, including a spell as a striker with Hull City - where he shared a dressing room with Wilcox in the early 1990s.

His 20-year-old son is yet to make his senior debut, having spent last season with Wolves' development squad after captaining Manchester City's under-18s in the past and spending his formative years in Leeds United's academy.

Leeds were father Peter's first club in a career that took in moves to Hull, Port Vale, Plymouth, Burnley and Bury before he hung up his boots due to injury, having played just 11 matches during a six-month spell with the Minstermen in 2000.

With Swan junior now hoping to cut his professional teeth at Bootham Crescent, an impressed Wilcox said: "If George is any near as good as his old fella, then we will have a player on our hands and I'm looking forward to working with him.

"He's a similar player to his dad in that he's big and strong and good in both boxes, which you need to be in League Two but, having come through the modern academy system, he's probably a bit better technically, so it's all about him adapting to football at this level and taking his opportunity to shine now."

Plymouth-born Swan was released by Wolves in April having arrived at Molineux from the Etihad during the previous summer.

On hearing that he could become available for transfer, Wilcox invited him to train with City's first-team squad for the final fortnight of last season and liked what he witnessed.

"We managed to get George in towards the end of last season to have a good look at him," the Minstermen chief explained. "He was in Wolves' development squad and we've been keeping an eye on him.

"He has a really good pedigree from being a young boy, having been at Leeds and then Manchester City. They have their pick of all the best players around the country and, whilst he didn't quite manage to push on there, that's understandably difficult.

"He went to Wolves last season and played a lot of under-21 games and is still developing at the age of 20."

With City's current central-defensive trio of Keith Lowe (375), John McCombe (325) and Dave Winfield (240) having racked up just under 1,000 first-team matches between them, Wilcox also believes he has the right pros in place to mentor their new team-mate.

"At 30, 29 and 27, we've got three defenders who are experienced - both in terms of their age and the amount of games they have played," he pointed out. "They will all be able to add something to George's game, as I hope I can as a former centre half myself."

But Wilcox went on to insist that his new addition is capable of challenging all three of his elders for a starting spot, with the need for four strong centre backs even greater should the Minstermen continue to employ a 3-5-2 formation during 2015/16.

"I feel he can push the three other defenders," the City boss stressed. "I think we need four centre backs and I'm hoping George will step in and get involved with the first team straight away.

"He's only young but, if I start with the other three, I don't want them thinking their places are set in stone. They need somebody to push them and George can do that having seen him train with us at the end of last season."