Crewe Alexandra boss, David Artell, believes that the fact that the club did not receive one concrete bid for one of his young assets in the transfer window can act as the perfect motivational tool going forward.

Artell admits that he was ‘surprised’ that no-one made a bid for one of his established young players but he says that it is now up to them to prove people wrong.

David told crewealex.net: “We didn’t receive one bid. I never got that phone call and I would say I was surprised because of the way we have played and the position we are in. It is what it is.

“We had an expression of interest but nothing came in. There was no further communication and no bids for any of our players.

“So now they can use that as a motivation. We want them to go out and prove that they are capable of playing higher. It is up to them to go out and prove that people were wrong not to come in and buy them. “