By Paul O’hehir
Bohemians are fighting to keep James Clarke at the club amid strong interest from England.
League Two side Grimsby Town are keen to land the 24-year-old midfielder in this transfer window.
Clarke, playing lately as a makeshift striker for the Gypsies, is out of contract at the end of the League of Ireland season. There is no release clause in his current deal and Bohs have offered him a new contract.
But that is unlikely to deter Grimsby who remain interested and Alan Reynolds says he can鈥檛 be certain how it will play out.
Bohs boss Reynolds said: 鈥淟ook, there’s interest in him but he’s a Bohs player at the minute, and he will be unless things change. I haven鈥檛 heard any differently, but I know there鈥檚 interest in him. So he’s here now anyway.
鈥淗e’s a really good player, and I suppose it鈥檚 been tricky for him. At the start of the season, he wasn’t in the team and he had to work and be patient and get in.
鈥淣ow he’s in the team, there’s interest in him. I’d love to keep him, but again, he probably has ambitions of going and playing across the water, but I’m delighted to have him.鈥
If Clarke doesn鈥檛 agree a new deal with Bohs, the club is faced with the choice of cashing in now for a fee, or losing him for nothing in the winter.
鈥淚t depends on what’s on offer,鈥 added Reynolds, who is linked with St Pat鈥檚 fullback Anto Breslin, but denied there was anything imminent. “Whether the board feels it’s worth cashing in and taking the money, but they don’t.
鈥淭hey want James Clarke, they really like James Clarke as a player and would love him to stay beyond, so we’ll see what happens in that.鈥
Bohs signed striker Douglas James-Taylor from Walsall this week, a player they know all about following his year on loan with Drogheda United. And his arrival meant the door was shown to Lys Mousset, the one-time 拢10 million Premier League player for Sheffield United.
His move at Bohs at the start of the season caused a stir among the fanbase, but it was always a risk considering Mousset鈥檚 injury issues and how he has lost his way.
And while Mousset – dubbed 鈥淭he Moose鈥 by Bohs fans – scored the winner in Sligo in May, Reynolds admits it was a short-term deal that didn鈥檛 work out for either party.
鈥淟ys struggled to settle,鈥 said the Gypsies manager. 鈥淲e鈥檝e struggled to get him fit, to get him on the pitch. It’s probably one that everyone could see happening, let’s be honest. But he scored a great goal down in Sligo, and can look back on that as we got three points.
鈥淚t just hasn’t worked. And he had a conversation with us to say, 鈥榣ook, I think it’s the right time for us to go鈥.鈥
Reynolds added: 鈥淚t was great for the league at the time, all the publicity, but getting him fit was the issue. We tried everything with him. All the staff did.
鈥淏ut he picked up niggles and things like that which slowed it down all the time. One thing is for sure, if he wants to play football, he needs to get fit.鈥
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