Manager optimistic Baxter will stay

Jose Baxter: huge influence on the season

ATHLETIC manager Lee Johnson is hopeful he can repel the advances of clubs trying to take Jose Baxter away from the club this summer.

The 15-goal top scorer was back in the thick of the action against Crawley after coming on as a substitute.

Baxter helped to seal victory by supplying a cross for Jean-Yves Mvoto to power home a stoppage-time winner. Having served his two-game ban, the Bootle-based star is gunning for a full recall at Shrewsbury tonight.

Whether his services can be retained by the club after the final two fixtures is another matter. Baxter has two seasons left on his current deal but a host of Championship clubs are interested in him. Johnson remains optimistic: “There’s a very good chance of Baxter staying,” he said.

“He has two years left and he is a brilliant player with world-class delivery.

“He has flaws in his game and that is probably why he is at this level. I feel it would be good for him to stay. But everybody is ambitious. I am sure that if a big, big club came in for him and were willing to pay the transfer fee we value him at... But I would like to keep him and use his talents to help the team.”

Johnson has compiled a list of around 100 players he is interested in pursuing when the transfer merry-go-round gets underway at the end of June.