David Artell believes that in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis, the value of his young players may attract greater interest from clubs higher up the football pyramid. The Alex boss admits that he expects the transfer market to decrease dramatically over the summer and into next season, but he suggests that with money tighter than ever before, the bigger clubs may look towards more value for money.

The Alex boss has told the club’s official website that he has received no bids for any of his players nor does he envisage any coming in any time soon with clubs looking to balance their books first and foremost in the wake of the football having to be played out in front of no supporters.

The Crewe manager told us: “I haven’t received any bids for any of our players nor do I envisage any. In these uncertain times, clubs won’t be looking to buy players at the moment. The market will be slow until we know when we are likely to resume a new season.

“Of course, that will affect our business model because we have been a club that has developed players and sold them on.

“On the flipside to that with the finances going to be as they are and perhaps new regulations being introduced to make sure that clubs live within their means more, then there is every possibility that Championship clubs and the big fish in League One will be looking for more value for their money.

“There will be even greater value in finding those promising young players, who may not be on vast wages and could go on and command a substantial fee in the future.

David added: “All we can do is wait and see what happens when some sort of normality returns but if I was a manager and I can get a very good young player on a third of what I am paying at the moment then that is something I would be attracted to.”