Owen Coyle wants to get out of the Championship and, to do that, he needs to hold onto his best players.
To that end, Coyle wants Blackburn Rovers to convince Shane Duffy, Grant Hanley and Ben Marshall to stay at Ewood Park. Hanley is subject to a £4.5m bid from Newcastle United while both Duffy and Marshall have less than 12 months left on their contracts.
Duffy’s emergence in the centre of Ireland’s defence, allied with his excellent form last season, has led to his name being linked to a Premier League move and a potential Celtic switch.
Celtic face stiff competition in the race to sign Shane Duffy https://t.co/l7SMfp8piV
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 12, 2016
The 24-year-old Derry native, who began professional life with Everton, will be aware that a move to the Premier League would boost his international prospects. Champions League football with Celtic would do no harm either.
Coyle was asked about the futures of Duffy and midfielder Marshall by The Lancashire Telegraph. He responded:
“Ben’s a wonderfully talented player and I have indicated to him, as I will with Shane Duffy and anybody in that situation, that at Blackburn Rovers we’d love to have them here. All we can do is enter into that dialogue, present something to the players and their representatives, and see where we go from there.
“That’s certainly in my mind to keep those good players and try and be proactive in doing that. Decisions will have to be made at some point and then we’ll take it from there.”
Rovers director Mike Cheston echoed Coyle’s comments. “Those conversations need to be had and we want to keep our best players,” he said.
There are six weeks remaining in the current transfer window but Coyle will be hoping to have his main players contracted to longer deals by the time the Championship season starts, on August 6.
