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Crewe Alexandra have re-signed former captain Luke Murphy and brought in ex-Shrewsbury defender Omar Beckles.

Midfielder Murphy, 30, was available following his end-of-season release by relegated Bolton.

He has signed a two-year deal to return to the promoted League One club - seven years on from leaving Gresty Road for Leeds United in a £1m deal.

Beckles, 28, has signed a one-year contract with the option of a further year after leaving Shrewsbury.

Meanwhile, left-back Harry Pickering, 21, has signed a "new and improved" three-year contract with the club.

Murphy had five years at Leeds, including two separate loan spells with Burton Albion, before joining Bolton in 2018.

He has scored 36 goals in his 403 career appearances to date with Crewe, Leeds, Burton and Bolton.

Crewe won promotion back to the third tier under David Artell in June, being awarded second place when the readjusted tables were finalised following the season suspension in March.

They are scheduled to start the season this Saturday, with a Carabao Cup tie at home to Lincoln City, followed by a midweek EFL Trophy trip to Murphy's old club Bolton and then their first third-tier fixture in four years at home to relegated Charlton Athletic on 12 September.

Crewe may have three debutants alongside Murphy and Beckles that day, defender Donervon Daniels and strikers Mikael Mandron and Offrande Zanzala,

The Crewe production line

Murphy is the most recent in the long line of seven-figure departees from Gresty Road, who have progressed through the revered Crewe Academy over the past four decades.

He immediately followed big money moves in the previous 12 months for Nick Powell, now at Stoke, to Manchester United and Ashley Westwood, now at Burnley, to Aston Villa.

Bur, prior to that, the Alex churned out big names of the calibre of Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy, Craig Hignett, Rob Jones, Robbie Savage, Dean Ashton and Dele Adebola.