Town manager Paul Jewell says he has so far only held preliminary talks with Lee Bowyer’s agent about the 35-year-old midfielder’s future.
The Blues boss says things are still at a very early stage with no firm contract offer yet on the table: "I spoke with Lee and his agent. With the economic climate people will have to take lower and lower wages these days. I’ve briefly spoken with his agent, but nothing’s set in stone.
"I’ve just had preliminary discussions with his agent. He’s a really good influence on the young players is Lee Bowyer.”
Jewell admits that that may come as a surprise to some: "He’s one of those people who until you get to meet him you don’t [know what he’s like]. You have these preconceived ideas of people, don’t you?
"I think he’s a really good influence with the young players, but obviously he’s not getting any younger and that has to be reflected in my decision.
"That decision hasn’t been made yet but I’ve spoken with his agent and he knows where we’re coming from.”
Meanwhile, Jewell says there have been no further developments regarding loanee Daryl Murphy: "I spoke with Daryl’s agent a couple of weeks ago. We’d like to keep him but that really depends on Celtic.
"He’s got a year to go at Celtic on decent dough, so I think that might be difficult for us to do.”
The Blues boss spoke with owner Marcus Evans earlier in the week and now knows how much cash he will have available this summer: "I needed to know roughly what I’ve got to spend.
"I’ve no problem with that, everyone’s the same. Our budget will be competitive but it’s not going to be off the chart.”
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