Stags’ boss Adam Murray says he is focussed on ensuring that striker Matt Green remains at the club after the transfer window closes on August 31.
The manager revealed after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Plymouth Argyle that we have rejected a bid from a club ‘in a higher division’ for the services of the 29-year-old.
And Murray says he expects Green to remain with the club after the transfer window closes and he will do all he can to ensure that happens.
“As far as I’m concerned, Matt Green’s a Mansfield player, he’s going to stay a Mansfield player unless somebody tells me different,” Murray said, speaking at his weekly news conference this morning.
“The conversations I’ve had with Matt, he loves Mansfield Town, he loves the supporters, I think he likes me, and he loves the team; he loves the way we do things, he knows he’s going to get a lot of goals this season or we’re going to create him a lot of opportunities to get goals.”
“My focus is keeping Matt Green and unless something extraordinary comes out [of] the woodwork in the next seven days/ten days, whatever it is, Matt Green will still be a Mansfield player.”
The gaffer admitted that every player in the world ‘has a value’ but he will do his utmost to keep the former Birmingham City man at the club, as will chairman John Radford.
“We want to keep our best players – I’ve spoken to the chairman and he’s of the same point of view, we don’t need to sell. But at the same token, everybody has a value.
“Matt Green’s got a contract for another two years so the rules of [that] contract [is] you’ve got to give 100 percent for the cause and Greeny’s always done that so I expect him to continue to do that.”
The Stags' boss has always emphasised the importance of having a tight-knit squad and he says although he classes Green as a friend, he is acutely aware of the ‘professional line’ which has to be respected.
“He’s a friend more than anything, so it’s a tough one because the players that I’ve got here that I’ve played with and played against for years and years and years, I’ve got really strong relationships with them but they all know that we have to have a line, a professional line.
“There’s no change in this, I have to do what’s right for the football club and that’s my job, that’s what the chairman employs me to do.
“Every decision that I make has to be right for the football club so Matt’s a tricky one because we’ve been through a lot together and I love him to bits as a bloke, as a footballer and I think that he’s done a lot for Mansfield Town.”
The 34-year-old Stags’ chief believes revealing the news of a bid to the press was the right course of action in order to protect his squad from the effects of rumours.
“I’m not turning round and saying there’s 10 million clubs in for Matt. We could have kept this under the radar and let it go but I know what you guys (the press) are like and I keep getting asked about it and it affects the players and it affects the group and I’m not going to allow that to happen.
“The best thing we could do is put it on the table – we had a bid for Matt Green, we turned it down, that’s it."
Supporters can view Adam Murray’s Monday morning news conference, in full, on Stags PlayerHD.
