ACCRINGTON Stanley travel to Exeter City in League Two tonight, and former Blackburn Rovers midfielder Amine Linganzi is training with the Reds with a view to joining the club.

Stanley boss Leam Richardson has been keen to bolster his squad, with the Reds only two points above the relegation zone going into a tricky fixture at sixth-placed Exeter.

One potential target, recently released Bradford midfielder Ritchie Jones, instead joined Rochdale this week but Stanley may finalise a deal for Linganzi next week after the 23-year-old impressed in training.

Linganzi was highly rated when he joined Rovers from French side Saint-Etienne in 2010, with then boss Sam Allardyce hoping to have unearthed another Steven Nzonzi.

But the Congo international, who was born in Algeria, made only four appearances for the first team and also saw a loan spell at Preston cut short by injury.

He was released from the final few months of his Rovers contract by mutual consent on January 30 and Richardson believes he has the ability to impress in League Two.

“His contract was mutually sorted (at Blackburn) a couple of weeks ago,” said the Stanley boss.

“He’s been in and he’s done smashing. He’s got a good presence about him, he handles the ball really well, he’s very physical.

“I think in this league if he takes to it he would be a very good player, he’s a young prospect.

“He’s somebody who I’ve seen a few times and who I’ve rated quite highly when I have seen him.”

And Richardson believes Linganzi is a man with a point still to prove in the English game, after his time at Rovers ended without success.

“I think so, by the look of things,” said the Stanley boss. “He’s had numerous offers from abroad but he wants to stay in England.”

The Reds have 32 points from 31 games, and Richardson wants to reach 50 to secure their Football League status.

“Everybody looks at the 50-point mark, the quicker you get there the quicker you can assess what else you need or where else you want to be,” he said.

“Let’s not hide from where we are in the league but so are six or seven other teams, so let’s finish at the top of that league first.

“The quicker we can do that and get points on the board, the quicker we can start looking forward again.”