WANT-AWAY York City attacker Aidan Connolly attracted interest from Chorley prior to Saturday’s meeting between the two teams.

Connolly told City chief Gary Mills he wanted to leave Bootham Crescent ahead of the trip to Lancashire, but nothing materialised from the Magpies’ approach and the ex-Dundee United winger is now training with the youth team at Wigginton Road.

The Scottish 22-year-old missed pre-season following calf surgery in the summer, but was handed his first start during the 2-0 bank-holiday Monday defeat to FC United of Manchester.

That appearance now looks like it could be Connolly’s last in City’s colours with Mills saying: “He’s on the transfer list and his name has been circulated to other clubs.

“The only interest in him has come from Chorley. They made a call about him on Friday and that’s as much as I know.

“He’s not training with the first team because, as manager, you need every player totally committed to the club. We’ve been through enough and the last thing you need is a player who doesn’t want to be here.

“That’s not the case with any of the players who played on Saturday. Even though the performance wasn’t good enough, they will continue to work hard for the club. “The other disappointing thing for me is that the football club forked out a lot of money for operations to get him fit and I put him in my team on Monday. He was also down to play again at Chorley, but then he told me he wants to leave the football club, so I told him you can then and that’s how it’s been left.”

Mills went on to reveal that he is not the person to decide whether the club would seek a fee for the under-contract Connolly, who was scouted by Championship club Reading early last term, with that duty falling under the remit of chief executive Jackie McNamara.

“That’s not my side of the football club now,” the City boss explained. “My side is to manage the players and, if the club want a fee for him, that would be decided by Jackie.

“He decides what the club wants or doesn’t want for any players.”

With Connolly absent, youth-team scholar Aaron Haswell was named on City’s bench at Chorley and Mills has earmarked the teenager for potential first-team selection, adding: “I’ve watched him train and play with the youth team and I’ve been impressed with him.

“He’s got a lot of energy and is left-footed with great balance. He also passes the ball well and I’m trying to get these players who I feel could have a good future involved with the first team.

“It’s always good to have two or three coming through and, then, you just hope one of them can step up and do well. That’s the idea of having an academy and youth team.

“Aaron’s a confident lad, so we’ll have to see whether he can step in from the start. If we play three up front, he could play up there or as an attacking midfielder, because he has so much energy.”