United manager Greg Abbott today insisted that winger Cleveland Taylor was as much a part of his plans as ever despite the persistent rumours of an imminent move away from Cumbria for the wide man.

Taylor, 25, formally requested a transfer in June citing personal reasons but has since returned for pre-season to recapture the form that brought him a host of end-of-season awards from the last campaign.

Abbott said: "He'll be playing for us on Saturday as far as I am concerned.

"Nobody is leaving this club at the moment until I have brought somebody in. If anything we need one or two to add to what we already have, and that might then make way for somebody to go out the other way.

"From what I have seen Cleveland has a big smile on his face and he is happy and ready to have a go at it. We certainly don't want to be talking about people going out of the club when we are just a few days away from the opening game.

"We want our wide men to be getting into dangerous areas and delivering good crosses whenever possible, and Cleveland is part of that. We also want them to be chipping in with a few goals of their own, because we want to be scoring from all over the pitch whenever possible, so it's an important job that our wingers have to do this season."