How Michael Appleton views Shayne Lavery's Blackpool future amid Millwall interest

It comes after a Championship side, widely believed to be Millwall, had a bid rejected for Shayne Lavery.

While Appleton didn’t rule out forwards departing the club earlier in the window, Pool’s head coach says the Seasiders are now in no position to let any go while Gary Madine and Jake Beesley are out injured.

When asked about the rejected bid for Lavery, Appleton told The Gazette: “That’s it on that one, we killed it in the water as quickly as it came about.

“At this moment in time we’ve got two fit strikers, although I don’t think Gaz is a particularly long one by any stretch of the imagination.

“We’re not in a position to be losing strikers at this moment in time.”

Madine was left out of Blackpool’s squad on Tuesday night for the Carabao Cup tie against Barrow after taking a bang to his shin against Stoke City last weekend.

However, the striker’s knock isn’t thought to be a serious one.

“He trained a little bit on Monday but it was sore again,” Appleton added.

“Hopefully he might be available at the back end of the week for the Swansea game at the weekend. We will see on Thursday and Friday.”

One player who will definitely be available for Saturday is midfielder Charlie Patino, who made his first start in tangerine against Barrow in midweek.

“He did alright, he was good,” Appleton said.

“I thought he was a little bit too deep in the first-half, so we tried to get him higher up the pitch in the second-half.

“He’s more than capable of playing that deeper role but with Kenny (Dougall) in there we had the security.

“I think the fans have taken to him already, they’ve obviously got a couple of songs about him.

“He will be great, he’s got good ability and as long as he learns to use his touches at the right time and doesn’t take too many touches, he will learn quickly and he will get better and better.”