Boss says he and his player calm over speculation

 Steve Davis is not resigned to losing his captain Luke Murphy this summer and is hoping that the 23-year-old may remain at the club to push us on next season. Murphy has enjoyed a tremendous season, scoring 9 goals in 48 appearances, producing numerous assists and helping us lift the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy for the first time in our history. His consistent form in midfield recently saw him named in the PFA Team of the Year for League Two, named as our Player-of-the-Season and inevitably it is his name that it is being linked with a summer move.

Davis has revealed that there is yet to be any concrete interest in the Alsager-based midfielder but that there was to be, he would prefer it was done earlier in the pre-season than later. Last season, he was nearly caught out in the midfield area when Ash Westwood was snapped up by Aston Villa on deadline day.

Steve said: “Luke has a contract here and he is calm about the situation. He is not desperate to leave and he loves the club and captaining his local team. Luke knows that if he does well enough then the move with happen for him anyway.

“Nothing has happened with him yet, but sometimes it can be a slow burner, like it was with Ash last summer. He left five games into the season. Any manager would prefer things to do things earlier so if anything does happen then you have time to get replacements in, but like I’ve said nothing has happened. “