No panic in big player market

ATHLETIC manager Lee Johnson has acknowledged some of his out of contract players may leave the club this summer.

But with so many options expected to be on the market, he is in no mood to panic as the club postpones making offers until safety in the league is assured.

“We’ve got a lot of players out of contract,” said Johnson, “but I was looking through the list of out-of-contract players recently and there are 850 names. Everyone will be sitting back and having a little assessment.

“Unless you have a player out of contract who is over 24 and in the team of the year or having banged in 20 goals, there won’t be too many pre-contracts flying around.

“Even Premier League clubs are reducing their squads. Everything filters down.”