Smurthwaite says he will offer Nathan Smith a new contract
Norman Smurthwaite says he has been speaking to Nathan Smith’s agent about a new contract for the impressive young defender.
Smurthwaite told BBC Radio Stoke: “He is being scouted by some Championship clubs as we speak so I anticipate that there will be some interest in the window, I don’t think it will be at the end of the season.
There will be discussions and there will be something I suspect happens between now and the end of October…
“It is a long time between now and January and there is a lot of football time to be played, but he is obviously making himself known by what he is doing which is playing excellent football, delivering what it is he is employed to do.
“He is under contract to us and there will be a new contract offered to him because he is on a boy’s wage, in fairness to him, compared to the rest of the squad. But equally you haven’t got to go out and panic, we handle these things correctly.
“I have had some dialogue with his agent as I have had since the first game he played in the first team because I felt that I could see he had obviously come back a man from being at Torquay for the year.
“So there will be discussions and there will be something I suspect happens between now and the end of October. But that is only to make it fair for him because he is holding down a first-team place which he wouldn’t have expected when Rob gave the retained list out.
“There is nothing we can do until the window anyway and I suspect because of the scouting that is going on, somebody will make an offer for him in January.
“So the new contract is not that critical, but that is not to say that we shouldn’t harness the talent of what we have by locking him up for a bit longer.”