Cobblers boss Edinburgh not interested in signing Exeter City's Joel Grant

Justin Edinburgh has gone on record as saying he is in talks with a player who can play out wide or up front and is close to making a signing, and Grant has been strongly linked to a Sixfields switch.

But the Cobblers boss has revealed Grant is not that player, and he has no interest in signing him.

“I don’t know where that has all come from,” said Edinburgh, when asked if Grant was a player he was interest in.

“I suppose some agents must pluck clubs out of the air.

“They must look around and see what clubs are looking for, and then start linking their clients.

“But we have not spoken to Joel, or his representatives.”

Another player who has been mentioned in connection with a move to the Cobblers is Conor McAleny, who was on loan at Oxford United in Sky Bet League One last season from Everton.

The Toffees have released the 24-year-old who is now a free agent, but he is another that Edinburgh has no interest in taking on.

“He’s not one that’s been on our radar, and we haven’t spoken to him either,” he said.

The Cobblers have not made a signing for a week, since Billy Waters was landed from Cheltenham Town, and Edinburgh says negotiations are still ongoing with a clutch of players.

“Things are ongoing and it is a bit of a waiting game,” said the Town manager, who admits it is a frustrating time.

“It is slow going, but as I said last week some of these deals happen quickly while others will take a bit longer than we would hope.

“We are still working hard and hopefully we can get a few wrapped up, but we can’t do any more than we are doing.”

And he added: “I have always sais it is a frustrating time because it is out of your hands, and you don’t control things.

“It is extremely frustrating, because as I said at the end of the season ideally you want to get the group together by the time you come back for pre-season, and that is still the plan.

“It doesn’t always go to plan, but there are still a couple of weeks and we keep progressing.

“We are only as phone call away from a couple falling into place, but underneath that we are still working because if our targets don’t commit to the club then we have to know we have other options which we can go to.”