YORK City Knights are in negotiations about a swap deal for Joe Helme after the prop sensationally demanded to leave the club.

The 23-year-old has told the management he is unhappy at Huntington Stadium and has been thrown out of the first-team reckoning. It is not known why he is unhappy.

The Knights are now open to cash offers for the big fireman, but a swap deal would be the preferred option, with the club now increasingly low on numbers in the playing ranks.

Those numbers have been hit further with the permanent departure of Anthony Thackeray back to parent club Hull.

Thackeray joined York on a season-long loan but was recalled by the Airlie Birds before Easter because of injuries at the KC Stadium. A full-time transfer to Doncaster was then mooted but, even though that has fallen through in the wake of the Lakers' financial difficulties, the expected departure from Hull to Hull KR of stand-off Paul Cooke would leave a gap in the Black and Whites' first-team ranks and The Press believes Thackeray has decided to stay and fight for a place.

Helme - who was plucked from Wakefield's academy as a teenager in mid-2003 and has been at York ever since, barring long spells away due to fire service commitments - is also now on his way out of Huntington Stadium.

Knights chief executive John Guildford said: "He is not happy here but he has not said why.

"It's disappointing he does not want to play for us but we don't want anybody who doesn't want to play for the club. He wants to move on and, as long as we get a fee for him that we're happy with, or a swap deal that we're happy with, he can do."

It is not known how much cash the Knights would want but Guildford said they were already looking at potential swap deals, with a prop, half-back and winger high on the list of priorities.

He added: "It's hard to get good players at this time of the year because they are usually tied to clubs."

The Knights are also talking to Super League duo Hull and Leeds Rhinos about potential new loan deals to boost the ranks.

Helme has made seven appearances for Mick Cook's side this season, all of them as an impact player off the bench, being ruled out of others due to fire service commitments or injury. He has scored two tries.

He has also turned out once for the academy team, a fortnight ago, as the coaching staff used that game to improve his match fitness after a lay-off. He will be allowed to continue getting game-time in the under-21s.

His transfer request leaves the Knights short up front, with Ryan MacDonald out with a broken arm. It was hoped MacDonald would undergo surgery this week, but he is unlikely to be back fit for two more months.