Mark Hughes has welcomed the competition for places in the Chester squad ahead of the new season.

Midfielder Hughes will compete with former Accrington trio Anthony Barry, David Mannix, and Jay Harris for a starting role in central midfield come August.

The Blues narrowly avoided relegation last season, prompting Simon Davies to bring in several new faces but Hughes is not concerned by the new arrivals.

He told the Chester Standard: "There is a lot more competition for central midfield places than there was last season when we had experienced players like Tony Dinning and Tony Grant in the squad.

"To be perfectly honest, we need midfielders, so I'm glad that the signings have been made and I'm now looking forward to the competition.

"We'll all definitely be wanting to make up for the disappointment of what happened last season - we were flying after our first 25 games, but then we were really disappointing after Christmas."