crewe Alexandra FC are very occupied with transfer dealings ahead of next season.
Coach Steve Davis met with a potential transfer target this week and is preparing himself for a busy six weeks on the recruitment front, with the hope of getting the right talents to helping them succeed next season. The club already have a gentleman’s agreement in place with a player, understood to be Ryan Lowe, with Davis hopeful that deal will be announced in next fortnight.
Davis continued his close season work by speaking to a potential target and his representatives in the Lake District on Wednesday. Crewe also published their retained list on Wednesday, with senior players Marcus Haber, Chris Atkinson, David Fox and Lauri Dalla Valle all leaving the club. Young players James Baillie, Joe Kearns, Toby Mullarkey, Joe Howell, Liam O’Neill, Andre Brown and Fraser Murdoch were also let go, leaving the Alex with 20 players under contract for next season.
Crewe are already making plans as they prepare for life in League Two after relegation. Davis said:
“We’re talking all the time to players. I was up in the Lake District talking to a player on Wednesday, so things don’t stop for me.
“It’s six weeks of hard work ahead. I will be talking to the millions of agents that keep ringing me every day, so between me and (Head of Recruitment) Neil (Baker) we have to come up with the best possible group of players that we can and that’s what we’ll try and do.
“One is already done, that can’t be announced just yet, but confident it will be announced in the next week or two.”
“I have always tried to be realistic about who we can afford to bring in. I almost get on my own nerves when I keep saying the same things about players but we bring in what we can afford to bring in.
“Our recruitment hasn’t been great, some of the players we have brought in on loan have been very good and very helpful but some permanent signings we’ve brought in haven’t lived up to what we thought they were going to do.
“There’s a risk with every player you recruit, every club is the same, and you just hope that you get lucky, those players settle in and produce for you.