Louisfarewell
MOTHERWELL manager Stephen Robinson says he is hopeful that Louis Moult will remain at the club next season after offering his star striker a new contract.
Despite rumours linking the Englishman with a move to Rangers, there have been no offers for his services as yet this summer.
Robinson hopes that the forward will not only remain a Motherwell player for the coming season, but commit his longer-term future to the club.
“I’ve had a couple of conversations about Louis but there haven’t been any offers at this stage,” Robinson said.
“I’m very hopeful he’ll be with us. We’ve offered him a new contract, we’re negotiating with him and we’re hopeful that he’ll stay.
“We can’t pay what other teams can pay, we know that. The fans adore him, he’s been brilliant for the club but the football club’s been brilliant for him – we’ve given him a platform to play on. It was something we wanted to do, I made it clear to the board that we should make an offer to Louis.
“They backed me and it’s up to Louis whether he takes it or not. If he doesn’t that’s fine, he’ll still be a massive part of what we do.
“It would be a big boost if he agreed it. We try and reward boys who’ve done well with another year. We can’t reward them with another £500 a week, we don’t have that kind of money – we get crowds of 4000 people.
“We’ve offered Carl McHugh a new contract as well – we’d like to sit down with a few others too but finances dictate we can only do a couple at a time. We’ve made it clear that we want them to be a big part of things for us.”
One of Motherwell’s new arrivals has pledged to fight his way back into contention for his national side after making the switch to Fir Park as he looks to make his mum proud.
Defender Charles Dunne, who made his debut in Satur- day’s 2-0 friendly win at Stirling Albion, has been capped at under-21 level for the Republic of Ireland.
THE London-born 24-year-old qualifies for the country through his Irish mother Josephine, and he thinks that he can catch the eye of Martin O’Neill once he gets up to full speed with the Steelmen.
“When I got the call for Ireland 21s that was great, I was chuffed and it was good times,” Dunne said. “A few boys from that squad have really pushed on. Shane Duffy has just been promoted to the Premier League, Jack Grealish was there before he chose to go with England, and the skipper here Carl McHugh was there too, so it was good to catch up with him about old times.
“I don’t doubt my ability one bit, if I am playing week-in, week-out with no injuries, then I believe in myself that I can do big things.
“Hopefully I can get back into contention. If I do well and do what I know I can do, then I don’t see why not.
“It’s a big aim, not just for me, but I want to make my mum proud. She’s Irish, she’s from Galway. That would make her really proud because she hasn’t really been home since she left to go to England, so it would be nice to play for them and bring her over.
“She’s always supported me, but I don’t really tell her all the ins and outs, because sometimes she gets a bit too emotional.
“When I get injuries, she thinks I’m dying! She thinks that everything revolves around football, but it doesn’t. She can get a bit dramatic.
“But it would be a big thing to play for Ireland and it would make her proud.” gone our separate ways and they will no doubt look at someone else.
“I feel a bit uncomfortable talking about the values because that’s between the two clubs and it’s managed to get into the public domain.
“But it is not something we would entertain at that value. We have a value on Chris, he is a good young player, he’s played nearly 100 senior games in Scotland.
“So you are not only buying Chris Cadden the player now, but you are buying potentially what Chris Cadden could turn into.”