McLeish keen to tie down key men

15 December 2009 09:52
The likes of midfielder Sebastian Larsson and defender Liam Ridgewell are among those McLeish hopes will sign new deals.[LNB]Larsson has recaptured his form of a couple of seasons ago while Ridgewell has made the effective switch from central defender to left-back.[LNB]McLeish said: "Right now, there are impending talks with some players' representatives.[LNB]"Michael Dunford (chief executive) and I will get down to that in the coming weeks when we can have a good look at things and see which are our priority in terms of urgency and players contracts about to expire.[LNB]"We are pretty much covered because we have got contract options on all the players so that covers us if we can't come to agreements.[LNB]"In all likelihood, we would take up all the options although I am loathe to mention names in the media just now."[LNB]Larsson was offered a new five-year deal by the previous board but talks were put on ice while the Carson Yeung takeover was completed.[LNB]McLeish is also to take a closer look at Slovakian striker Jan Novak, who is currently on trial at City from MFK Kosice.[LNB]The 24-year-old has scored 39 goals in 90 games for Kosice during the past two-and-a-half years.[LNB]McLeish confirmed: "We are looking to do more diligence on him. We are wanting to see some more DVDs of him playing at a higher level.[LNB]"We know he's done well in the Europa League against teams like Roma so we're looking to get those DVDs and also those of his international games."[LNB][LNB] Birmingham Evens, Draw 5/2, Blackburn 13/5  

Source: Team_Talk