Boss Roy Keane has confirmed that the Blues have received interest in central defensive linchpin Gareth McAuley, but dismissed the offers as “silly”. The Northern Irishman, who was linked with Bristol City last week, says he is keen to remain with the Blues.
Keane confirmed that there has been interest in the former skipper: "We’ve had a few offers for Gareth, I’m not going to say who from. Some silly offers.”
The Blues boss says he wouldn’t be interested in selling the former Leicester and Lincoln man, who he sees as an important member of his squad: "Gareth’s a massive player for us like Jon Walters, Connor Wickham or Damien Delaney. Some of the offers we’ve had have been crazy.
"I think everyone got the impression that every player is available on the cheap this summer. I know that’s what the agents have been doing because we said one or two players might be available. All of a sudden everyone thinks they are available on a free transfer. When I ring about a player it’s £2-£3 million straight away.”
Speaking last week, McAuley said he wasn't looking for a change of scene: "I don’t want my agent looking to move me on.
"Unless Ipswich receive a bid and they accept it, which will make it an entirely different situation, I don’t want to even hear the word transfer.
"I’d like to say the talk last year didn’t unsettle me but the truth is that it did and I don’t need it all over again.”
McAuley says he is looking for the Blues to turn more draws into wins once the new season is under way: "We drew far too many games [last season], 20 in total, or we would have finished much higher.
"There’s not a great deal to choose between a lot of Championship clubs and our draws confirm that.
"Most of the time we seemed to go ahead and then find ourselves settling for a draw or, even worse, losing the game.
"Important lessons were learned and we must try to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes all over again.”
Earlier in the summer, Premier League Bolton and SPL champions Rangers were also linked with the Glenroe-born defender.