Steve Davis hopes to complete Crewe's first signing of the summer after holding advanced talks with an unnamed left-back.
Nick Powell's long-anticipated move to Manchester United was completed on Tuesday and Davis now intends to enter the market himself and address Alex's problem position.
Matt Tootle, Kelvin Mellor, Harry Davis and Carl Martin all featured effectively on the left-hand side of defence during the Railwaymen's League Two promotion campaign, but the manager wants a natural left-footer to fill the void.
He told Crewe's official website: "We've spoken to a left-back and are in advanced talks with him. We started that four weeks ago and will continue that when he comes back from holiday.
"We remain in regular dialogue with his agent and the talks have been promising. Hopefully we can get something finalised with him. He has suggested that he would like to come here because he is eager to improve as a player."
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