Mansfield Town

The 18-year-old right-back was expected to sign for the club after he played in the Stags’ 2-0 victory over Rainworth Miners Welfare last Saturday, but joined the Warwickshire club on Monday.  He had also previously been training with the squad which began pre-season at Brooksby Melton College, the week before.

And manager Murray revealed at this morning’s news conference that the defender’s mother contacted the club’s medical department on Monday morning, to tell them that Wheatley wouldn’t be reporting for pre-season training.

“I think the big thing to come out of it was that Jordan wasn’t really committed to Mansfield Town. We had communication from his mum to the physio on Monday that he wasn’t very well,” Murray said.

“Was he very well or wasn’t he very well? I’m not sure but then I think Nuneaton put it in the press that he signed for them so he might not have been very well in Nuneaton or something, I’m not sure.”

“It was his decision; he didn’t feel like League Two was for him. We brought him in to go into the first team squad and compete for a first team place at a professional level at League Two. 

“He felt that he’d get more opportunity to play man’s football in Nuneaton’s league so [we] wish him all the best. 

“If somebody’s not 100 percent committed to the four walls of Mansfield Town, then so be it. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, we’ve got a lot of good young lads and we move on very swiftly.”

Murray’s news conference is now available to view on Stags PlayerHD.