Town boss Paul Jewell says he’s the man who will decide whether the Blues choose to accept any future offers for captain Grant Leadbitter. The Blues manager wants to keep hold of his new skipper, the subject of a rejected Portsmouth bid, but concedes that if a new contract can’t be agreed, the 25-year-old could move on.
Jewell said: "I’ll make that decision. I won’t be under pressure to sell. If an offer comes in and I think it’s a great offer and Grant’s not particularly enamoured with the contract we’ve got, I’d say accept it. But my recommendation to the chief executive at the moment is ‘let’s see if we can get Grant signed up’.”
The Blues boss is unsure whether an increased offer will be forthcoming from Pompey: "I don’t know [whether they could increase their bid]. We haven’t encouraged other bids, I don’t even know how much it is, to be honest. It certainly isn’t mind-blowing or I would have heard about it.
"If we do sell him, we’ve got to replace him, so it’s not an ideal situation for me. I’m quite happy to add rather than take away from the squad.
"The squad needs adding to, we all know that. But sometimes in life you have to do things [you don’t want to]. I guess Arsenal didn’t want to sell Fabregas.
"The most important thing is if the player is unhappy with his terms or whatever, I think you’ve got to do something. But Grant certainly hasn’t given me that impression.
"Maybe Chuck’s blowing in his ear,” the Town manager added, referring to former captain David Norris, who joined Pompey on a Bosman in the summer.
"Grant’s a good player, a good passer of the ball and I’m not surprised that Portsmouth are in for him, I’m surprised that no one else has been in for him.”
Jewell has a lot of time for the man he recently named his captain with talks regarding new terms recommencing soon: "The owner will be meeting with his representatives next week and Grant isn’t the type to sulk.
"He’s a very quiet lad and just gets on with it. I’ve had honest conversations with him, he’s a terrific lad, and I’ve told him I don’t want a Chuck or a Gareth McAuley situation hanging over us. I can only ever be honest with players, whether they like it or not.”
The Town manager says the situation isn’t ideal from either Leadbitter’s perspective or Town’s: "He doesn’t want it because it’s a risk, both for him and the club. God forbid, if he were to pick up a bad injury, that Bosman move in the summer might not materialise.
"I think Grant wants it sorted out. Sometimes these things can, sometimes they can’t, I’ll leave that to his agent and the owner.”
Leadbitter isn’t the only player whose terms are up next summer and Jewell says he’s already talked to some of them: "There are a number. I’ve spoken with one or two. Each and every individual is different. As a player gets older, his transfer value drops.
"Grant’s 25, so his transfer value is probably higher than anyone else’s whose is up. I don’t want it to be a saga where all the questions I’m fielding are about players’ contracts.”