Stags’ boss Steve Evans has today updated supporters on the bids which he submitted for two separate players on Monday.
Following Monday’s 1-0 victory over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, the manager revealed that he submitted two ‘written cash offers’ for two separate players as he looks to bolster his squad following the addition of midfielders Joel Byrom and Ben Whiteman, goalkeeper Jake Kean and striker Yoann Arquin.
And the manager has today provided an update on the aforementioned bids, revealing that he is facing competition from two higher division clubs for one of the players.
“One of them we’re still waiting to hear from and one of them I’ve had a phone call from the player’s representatives,” the Stags’ chief said.
“Our offer was accepted but there’s also two clubs in League One who have bid for this player so he wants to have a chat with them.
“I understand that; if you want to play as high a level as you can then I understand it from the player’s point of view. His agent has said he’ll ring me early evening and let me know if that’s gone according to how they think it might do. If that’s the case then we’ll lose out on that one but the second one we’re waiting to hear [on].
“We’re waiting on a number of things. It’s not just those two written offers but I’m speaking to other managers and representatives of players about other options we’d like to explore and we’re going to try and do that.”
Defender Kyle Howkins, who returned to the side over the Christmas period after missing six matches through a combination of suspension and injury, has returned to parent club West Bromwich Albion after the expiration of his loan, but the gaffer says he is in talks to extend the 20-year-old’s stay at One Call Stadium.
“I was talking to Tony Pulis on Monday evening coming back from Blackpool and of course Tony’s own side had a terrific win over Hull so we were both in good spirits but Nick Hammond, the director of football at West Bromwich Albion, controls [transfers].
“I’ve just spoken to Nick in the last few minutes and they’re going to have a management meeting this afternoon, not just about young Kyle but about all the players.
“We’ll know at some stage today whether Kyle’s a possibility for the option to come back for a longer period, or whether it’s not.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s Sky Bet League Two clash against an out-of-sorts Crewe Alexandra (3.00pm kick-off), the Stags’ boss is focussing on his own camp rather than the opposition as he looks to close the gap on the play-off positions.
“Morecambe were on a poor run of form, so from that point of view it’s never about what the opposition do, it’s what we do that counts.”
“I’ve got a lot of time for Steve Davis, the manager there, a lot of time. We go back a long way in respect of being in opposition benches, if you like.
"They don’t get ‘too up’ at Crewe and they don’t get ‘too down’, they’re very much level.
“Some of their play up at Morecambe on Monday said they should have won the game, and won it quite comfortably.
“If we can get a result against Crewe then we’re probably going to take ourselves within that five or six points of the play-off pack and that’s where we aim to be.”
Supporters can view Steve Evans’ news conference, in full, on Stags PlayerHD.
