Stuart Kettlewell hoping for clarity regarding Motherwell’s summer shopping list

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell is braced for the potential to lose some players but is hoping for clarity soon on his summer shopping list.

The Steelmen offered new contracts to academy graduates Max Johnston and Dean Cornelius several months ago but their futures remain uncertain.

Defender Dan Casey has also been offered a new deal, while the contracts of the likes of Sean Goss, Harry Paton, Mikael Mandron, Jonathan Obika, Jack Aitchison and Jake Carroll – plus loan players Stuart McKinstry and James Furlong – are also up.

The future of striker Kevin Van Veen could remain a topic for several months after the 31-year-old hit 29 goals last season. The Dutchman has a year left on his Fir Park contract.

But Kettlewell is hoping for clarity soon on other members of his squad.

“It can be a natural course but of course, we don’t want to be sitting four or five weeks from now,” he said.

“I always think as a player, when that season finishes, you have to make a decision one way or another. It gives you an indication we want to have a wee bit of clarity.

“I think the club has been fair with the offers and fair by acknowledging who we want to keep, and players we have spoken to and how those situations go.

“The next part that comes is that we get that wee bit in return from player representatives etc, so we get to a point where everyone knows what they are doing next season.

“I am not going to give you a deadline but it’s approaching that stage where we want that black-or-white answer.

“I sincerely hope I can keep as many players as I can but if not, it’s not the end of what we do as a club.

“It’s important I am braced, the board is braced and the recruitment team is braced that we may have to make some changes.

“That’s absolutely fine because you have to deal with those situations if clubs come in with a lot more money than us and a greater stature.

“But we have shown we have a real good nucleus here and we find ourselves in a pretty good place overall.”