STEPHANE Zubar would “love” to fill the defensive void left at York City by Aarran Racine’s return to parent club Forest Green.

Bootham Crescent boss Gary Mills has stated his intention to recruit a new centre back and ex-City loan signing Zubar, who was released by Premier League club Bournemouth, remains available having played for Evo-Stik Southern League outfit Weymouth on non-contract terms this season.

The 30-year-old Guadeloupe international helped the Minstermen preserve their Football League status in 2015 when he played under Russ Wilcox in the same back-three formation that Mills is currently employing.

Zubar then returned on loan from Bournemouth for the following campaign, but his season ended when he suffered a cruciate ligament injury last September and he was forced to watch from afar as the club tumbled into non-League football.

On the attraction of a third spell with the Minstermen, Zubar said: “I still get some nice messages from the fans who, when they have seen players give everything, always want them to come back.

“I don’t know whether the club want me back and that would be down to the chairman and manager, not me, but they have got my number and I would like to help them. I had a great time at York and, if I had been fit, I would have liked to have kept the club in League Two last season.

“The chairman was always very good to me and I’d love to help him and, with the current manager, I believe there’s a chance to stay up now, because he knows the league and he’s signing the right players. Before, I knew in pre-season that the club were going to struggle because of the players they were signing, but the new manager has brought in players with experience and the situation at the club is different now.”

Having turned down approaches to get back into the pro game in League Two and north of the border because he didn’t want to uproot his family, Zubar declared that would not be a consideration if City came calling again.

“I’ve had a few opportunities since being here and could have gone to Kilmarnock in Scotland,” he explained. “Morecambe’s manager also wanted me and we had a chat, but I didn’t really want to move my family there.

“But my wife likes York and it would be nice to play higher again.”

Despite dropping into part-time football, the 6ft 2in defender also insisted he has maintained a professional attitude towards the game, adding: “I’m just as fit as I have always been as a professional.

“I’ve been in the game for 12 years, so I know exactly what I need to do.”

Weymouth lie 15th in the table but, with Zubar at the back, boast the sixth-best defensive record in their division with 28 goals conceded in 24 league games.

On the south-coast club’s fortunes, he pointed out: “We’ve drawn too many matches, but have won the last two 4-0 and, with six or seven games in hand, we still think we can make the play-offs.”