| JJ will be assessing his out-of-contract players over the next five games as he plans for the next season. The Jambos are still in the hunt for European football so the players have two targets to play for; a new deal and European football. The threat of freedom-of-contract moves away already hangs over the club with Jose Goncalves refusing to sign a new deal. Captain Michael Stewart, Larry Kingston, Christian Nade and Marian Kello have been set a challeng by their manager – to use the post-split games to justify their case for an extension. The future for Stewart, however, is unclear as the midfielder considers over his future. JJ said: "Michael is out of contract. He might want to move on, he might have offers. I think he said himself that he'll wait to see what pans out. Once he gets back fit and playing we'll take it from there. It's not just about the club wanting to keep players. They might have offers coming in and other things they want to consider. They have an opportunity to move on when they are out of contract. It's not all down to whether you want them or not. There are a lot of factors to discuss. We have five games to assess everything and nothing is cast in stone yet. Because of the options up front I brought Nade back in on Saturday. He hadn't figured recently so that was a chance for him. We have tough games coming up, games where we want to be competing so they will be a good marker because they will be against all the clubs in the top half of the table. I'm not getting ahead of myself because there are many things to think about. Kingston has certainly shown he is a good player so we'll see how it goes. He's enjoying it so we'll let him enjoy it and look at things at the end of the season. "We want to see these games, five hard games, because that can tell you a lot about players if they show the hunger and desire. The pressure is off them regarding the top six. These are the games where they can show they aren't switched off" |