Interest In Muzzy

Rovers rejected an undisclosed bid from a Championship club on Wednesday morning for influential winger Mustapha Carayol and both Nick Higgs and Mark McGhee have stated their intention to keep him at all costs.

It's a front though surely? It's inevitable that there will be interest in him following his blistering performances at the back end of last season and McGhee always ensured he bigged up our star man after each game. It now makes sense as to why he was doing so. He was drumming up interest in an attempt to spark a bidding war which looks set to have begun already. Derby County are the club thought to have made the bid (around £150,000) and their divisional rivals Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds and Barnsley are also believed to be eyeing up our most valuable asset. The club rarely announce that they have rejected bids for contracted players unless they are trying to publicise the fact to invite further bids, which I think is the case now. The statement of intent to keep Muzzy with us is to appease the fans but it's clear that with him out of contract next summer that we need to either sell, or extend his deal.

It's been announced that we're in negotiations to extend his deal with us, but I fear that if anything does get signed it will only be done to ensure we receive a heftier fee and not because we genuinely wish to keep him. I'd love to see MC pulling on the quarters next season, terrorising League Two defences once again, but I now have huge doubts as to whether this will happen. If we do sell our star player we'd be barking to accept anything less than £350,000. That kind of figure will ensure that we can reinvest in the squad and replace him with quality players, if the chairman allows. Anything less won't buy us an adequate replacement or give us any scope to bid for other players.

Mustapha Carayol

If this is the beginning of the end for Muzzy, I'd like to thank him for his scintillating performances that brought excitement and delight to Gasheads everywhere. He's a genuine talent who has the ability to establish himself as a top Championship player and it's been a pleasure to watch him play when he's on form. I hope he does choose to stay but fear the pull of 2nd tier football and good money will be too good to turn down.

We eagerly await the next move...