The four Blackpool players in need of a big summer in first pre-season under Steve Bruce

Steve Bruce will be keeping a close eye on several players ahead of his first pre-season in charge of Blackpool.

The 64-year-old was appointed as Seasiders boss last September, and endured ups and downs throughout his first few months in charge.

While the club ultimately fell well short of the League One play-offs, it was still clear what the experienced coach wanted, with some of the signs proving positive.

So far this summer, Fraser Horsfall and Michael Ihiekwe have been added to the Blackpool squad, with plenty more business expected before the players report back to Squires Gate.

For some, the pre-season schedule is going to be important for a range of reasons.

Here’s a look at some of the players who will be looking to impress:

Andy Lyons

It was great to see Andy Lyons introduced off the bench in Blackpool’s final game of the season at the beginning of last month.

The defender has been through injury hell, having suffered an ACL injury in February 2024, and needed to be patient when it came to making his return to action.

His cameo against Bristol Rovers would’ve been a big thing for him. While physically it wasn’t much, mentally it’ll put him in a better position.

Pre-season is going to be the 24-year-old’s first real opportunity to show Bruce what he can do, and get himself ready to feature regularly from August onwards.

The Seasiders will probably look to add another right back to their ranks when the transfer window reopens, so Lyons will want a head start in a potential battle for that position.

Tom Bloxham

Similarly to Lyons, Tom Bloxham will want to put himself in a place where he can hit the ground running once the competitive games get underway.

After making the move from Shrewsbury Town in January, the attacker made a bright start, and looked really impressive in his first few outings.

Based on that alone, he is someone with bags of potential that Bruce will need to build around going forward, especially with his versatility.

Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, an injury at the beginning of February limited his game time, with the Seasiders boss only really using him off the bench in the last couple of months of the campaign.

The stop-start nature of his first few months on the Fylde Coast makes a strong summer critical.

Kylian Kouassi

Kylian Kouassi will also be looking to get himself back to full fitness in pre-season, but faces an even bigger challenge.

You’d imagine once available, the striker will need to quickly impress Bruce.

There’s something about the 21-year-old due to his physicality, and during his first campaign at Bloomfield Road he showed glimpses of that.

The downside is his actual output of goals - which didn’t improve during his loan spell with Salford in League Two.

He’s been unfortunate in terms of a recurring hamstring problem, but it does feel as if the Seasiders will need some clear signs to consider the forward as a real option for next season.

Ryan Finnigan

Like Kouassi, Ryan Finnigan will need to use this summer as an opportunity to prove himself to the manager.

For one reason or the other, the ex-Southampton man didn’t feature much in the second half of the season, despite both Lee Evans and Albie Morgan having an excessive amount of workload.

It’d be nice to see the 21-year-old given a proper chance, as he seemed to have something about him when he did feature, and also seemed to be a source of goals from the centre of the park.

It’s clearly up to Finnigan to show Bruce that he is a serious option, even if another midfielder does arrive.

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