Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell is eager to secure players on longer-term contracts and avoid needing to rebuild an entire squad next summer.
Defender Ewan Wilson was this morning announced to have signed a new deal until 2027, joining Tawanda Maswanhise in signing until 2026, and goalkeeper Aston Oxborough until 2027.
Kettlewell says he’s spoken to several others, and expects more announcements.
He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I think that their performances have more than earned that. Trying to get a wee bit of business done and a wee bit of stability, in terms of our squad, has been really important for us.
“We had a situation last year where we were working towards maybe trying to bring players on board for longer contracts, trying to protect our assets and things like that, and that maybe fell through the cracks for one reason or another.
“That’s not a criticism, but we need to willingness of the player, of their family and their representative to be on board with that.
“Sometimes we as a football club, and even before my time, have had a wee bit of criticism for not re-signing players. People think we’ve maybe not spoken to them or not tried to make that happen, and I can assure you that we’re very forward-thinking.
“Assets at this club, guys that are performing really well, we ensure that we want to try and keep them here for as long as we can.
“We don’t want to go through too many summers like we did last year, where there’s just complete wholesale changes.
“That’s fine and well, we feel that we brought in a lot of good players, and fresh faces that add something, but you want that to be at a minimum in transfer windows, you don’t want to be doing 15 or 16 ins and the same going back out the way.
“We have to ensure there’s some level of consistency in what we do, and that has certainly been the plan for us.”
Kettlewell added: “There are others, that’s something we’re addressing, and without giving too much away, we would hope there are other bits of news to break, and various things like that, that we’re really upbeat and positive about.
“But there are other situations as well, when you look at what contracts players are on, terms, what level of contract players are on. There are a number of different factors.
“But what we are trying to do is work our way through a situation where we have a level of consistency.
“Our business model is that we want to try and develop players, and have those sellable assets where it starts to help the finances of the club. We’ve made no secret of that in my time, and before my time here.
“That’s something we need to try and be good at, that we need to drive every day, and we believe contract extensions help in that process.”
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