Lee Bell has told the club’s official website that he remains hopeful that Zac Williams and Connor Sailsbury will sign their professional deals with the club in due course.

The club’s assistant manager, who has worked closely with both players as they progressed through the Academy, believes that they do not receive a better education than playing competitive football and he expects them to follow the other youngsters in the Crewe squad and sign new deals.

Bell told crewealex.net: “We remain hopeful that those two situations will be resolved soon. It is not as though we are a million miles away with it. The dialogue between all the parties is good and there are no real issues with it.

“These things can take time but the talks have all been positive and we hope that it will sorted soon. They have trained well and played brilliantly. They are having their rest now and are both recovering from injuries, but they need to stay here and play in our first team.

“They need to be playing games. It has been said a million times before but they know that the progression and pathway is here to first team football. I’ve been there as a young player and there is no substitute for playing games.

“They don’t want to leave here and play Under-23s football. That is no good for their development and if they play competitive football here they will get what they deserve from the game. That will come but they have to be playing regular first-team football.

The assistant manager added: “I would tell any player that. It doesn’t matter if they are a first year pro or an older pro, they have to play games.”