YORK City are to begin announcing new signings for the 2021/22 season from next month.

York revealed their retained list for the new campaign earlier this week, with ten players to be kept by the club.

Ten more players have been let go while three others have been invited back for pre-season training, with a view to earning a new deal.

City remain in contract talks with midfielders Michael Woods and Archie Whitfield.

Manager Steve Watson has said that the Minstermen can begin revealing their new recruits from Tuesday, June 1, when the FA allows transfers to be completed at City's level.

“It goes without saying that York fans, or any fans, want to see new signings come in," said Watson.

“But, we can’t sign players until June, the FA have decided that and they’ve decided that, on this one, we’re in the same boat as the National League.

“The players that we’re talking to and the players that we’ve made contact with will have other options and they’ll have different thoughts on what they want to do for the next stage of their career.

“It’s a slow burner, but I would think that hopefully by the start of pre-season that, on top of what we’ve got and the younger lads, that we could see four more in before then.

“We have agreed one, which we’re delighted with, and I think we’ll announce that when we can, which will be June 1."

Watson admitted that of those players released by the club, some were unable to be retained due to financial reasons, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It goes without saying that we’ve made some really tough decisions this year because we’ve seen maybe a third of what we usually see in a season to make our decisions," he said.

“We’ve made decisions on players that we wanted to keep to move forward with next season and who can fit into a potentially different way of playing, if needed.

“It’s good to get them over the line because I really wanted to keep the ones that have stayed.

“There’s a couple that we’ve released that has been hard to do because, on a different year, we may have been looking to try and hold on to them, but this year it’s not going to be possible.

“There’s players who are going to go their separate ways because mutually it’s not what we both want.

“There’s also players who we probably can’t afford this season. It’s been really difficult in a really different time this year.”

The City boss went on to reveal that the club will run with a smaller squad this year, meaning that there may be a greater onus on the squad's younger players.

“I’m convinced that we’ll be able to keep the quality high, but maybe not have the three, four, five, six players to cover all positions this year," said Watson.

“We’ll have to rely on some of the younger lads, but I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t think that they were up to it."