Blackpool boss has to be patient

https://www.footballwire.co.uk/|Don’t miss the latest football transfer news and gossip from leagues in England, Scotland and Europe with footballwire.co.uk

The Seasiders remain in talks with five players who are yet to decide on their futures.

Among them are first-team regulars Kelvin Mellor, Clark Robertson, Jay Spearing and Kyle Vassell.

While Bowyer says he’d like to get to tie up their futures as quickly as possible, he admits that process might take longer than he’d prefer.

“I’d love to get a number of them done as quickly as possible but I understand the market,” he said.

“I understand the players we’ve had talks with have improved their games since coming into the building.

“So rightfully so there will be other clubs sniffing around them and talking to their agents and looking to get the best possible deal they can get and I understand that, that’s the game.

“Ideally we’d like to get things sorted soon but generally you know it takes a while before it settles down and agents find the best deal.”

When asked how many of his out-of-contract players he expects to put pen to paper, Bowyer replied: “If I could answer that I would be able to tell you the lottery numbers. Unfortunately I can’t.”

So far the only players to sign new deals with the club are striker Mark Cullen and goalkeeper Myles Boney.

But one Blackpool player who is already signed on for next season is winger Nathan Delfouneso.

The 27-year-old had an option of a further 12 months on his contract which the club opted to activate.

Delfouneso has enjoyed his most productive campaign to date for the Seasiders, having netted nine times in 46 appearances – with five of those goals coming in the last six games of the season.

The Seasiders enjoyed another fine season under the management of Gary Bowyer, finishing in 12th place in the League One table.

Pool, fresh from their promotion from the fourth tier, defied the bookies’ odds to steer clear of the relegation zone all season.

When asked if this season’s top half finish tops last year’s promotion from League Two, Delfouneso said: “It’s definitely up there. We were probably down as strong favourites to potentially go back down.

“But I don’t think that ever crossed our minds, even when we had periods where it looked like we might be dragged in.

“We always believed we were more than capable of being in this league and even achieving more.

“It’s a big achievement that we’ve stayed in this league but we can’t just think ‘that’s great’, we’ve got to take it into next season and we want to do more and achieve more.”