Stags’ boss Steve Evans says he wants to add three more players to his squad before the January transfer window slams shut tomorrow evening.
Clubs across England have until 11.00pm tomorrow to add to their playing squads for the second half of the season and the manager is looking to further improve the Stags after already making six signings during the window.
And the gaffer says he would like to add three more new faces to his squad before tomorrow’s 11.00pm deadline, however the player for which the £300,000 bid was submitted earlier this month now looks unlikely to join the club.
“One of them was here [on Saturday] and watched us and went away impressed. He’s here today and he’s happy to make something happen, providing of course that we can get the nod from their chairman," the Stags' chief said.
“I think the big deal’s probably more than we’re willing to pay, and it’s a lot more. I think our chairman made it absolutely clear to me, let’s establish if it’s more or a lot more, and it’s a lot more. There is no doubt that John Radford would have paid more money and we would’ve got that deal done.
“The second one’s very much alive, and that’s the one we’re literally sitting by the phone [for]. Hopefully it’s not a long day tomorrow because it means you’re chasing things through before the 11 o’clock deadline.”
The former Leeds United boss says he now has to be more meticulous in his approach to bringing players to the club after already vastly strengthening his squad.
“You always like improving what you’ve got, that doesn’t matter whether it’s personally or business-wise, which in our case is football.
“We want to improve on what we had on Saturday, we want stronger options in certain areas of the pitch.
“In reality, in terms of areas of the pitch now, it’s getting harder to strengthen and to remember we’re in the level we are and we are the club we are.”
Speaking at this afternoon’s news conference at One Call Stadium, the manager said he turned down a bid for one of his players yesterday, however he has presented a couple of his players with the opportunity to move away from the club.
“I received a call yesterday out of the blue offering a reasonable amount of money for one of our players. I’m not going to say who it is because the call was made in a reasonable and very professional manager.
“We wanted it to be manager to manager and chairman to chairman if accepted, but it’s wonderful when you speak to John Radford and he says ‘do you want to sell him?’ [I reply] ‘no I don’t’ [and he says] ‘okay, tell them no’.
“We have offered one or two players the opportunity to move on, that’s based on game-time and based on how you see things going forward. It’s a similar chain, it's based on us getting who we want in. I’ve told those lads to go away and think about it and I’ll speak to them closer to the end of the day.
“And the kids have gone away to speak to their loved ones or those close to them, advisors or whatever. If it’s yes then we’ll see what can happen and if it’s no and they’re in the building, we still trust them.
"They’re in the group, they’re good players and we have to trust all of our players.”
Supporters can view manager Steve Evans’ news conference, in full, on Stags PlayerHD.
