Athletic have received a boost with the news that Oumare Tounkara and Jean-Yves Mvoto will be staying with them for the rest of the season. The impressive form of the French pair had led the Latics officials to wonder whether Sunderland manager Steve Bruce might recall them but Paul Dickov has confirmed that there has been no sign of the recall clause in the season-long agreement being used.
Dickov is also hoping to keep Arsenal’s Cedric Evina and Leeds United's Aidan White on loan beyond the expiration of their short-term agreements. Preston centre-back Neal Trotman is another kettle of fish as the sacking of manager Darren Ferguson has thrown everything up in the air so the decision will rest with any new manager who is appointed.
Dickov commented, “They (Tounkara and Mvoto) are here until May 7th, as far as I am aware. We are speaking to (Evina and White’s) clubs at the moment and are hopeful we can get the loans extended. I had a good conversation with Simon Grayson (Leeds manager) and we want to keep all our best players. They come into that category. Dean Kelly and Jason Jarrett are under contract until the end of January so we need to sit down with them and the chairman as well to find out what we can and can’t do.”
“We haven’t had any enquiries for any of our players and I would like to keep it that way. We have got some players who I think can play at a higher level and there is going to be interest as they are making people sit up and take notice. As long as my phone doesn’t go and the chairman isn’t calling, I will be happy. Trotmans loan is up on Monday and with Preston changing manager we don’t know if that will affect if he stays, or if he wants to stay.”