Cobblers trio warned by Curle not to 'price themselves out of the market' after being offered new contracts

Sam Hoskins, Vadaine Oliver and Michael Harriman have been warned by Keith Curle not to 'price themselves out of the market' after they were offered new contracts by the Cobblers.

The transfer market is set to undergo a major transformation this summer due to the impact of coronavirus, and one consequence of the pandemic will be reduced contracts for players.

Hoskins, Oliver and Harriman are out of contract this summer and while Curle is hopeful of keeping all three, the club, like many others, have had to make adjustments to their wage structure to offset the financial impact of COVID.

Asked if he hopes those three players will sign new deals, he said: "Yes, and I think they contracts we've offered are reflective of the current state of the financial profile of football because there is going to be financial changes and it's going to start at the bottom.

"There are players at the minute now that will get contract offers that they will think, in their current opinion, is not of the value that they put themselves at.

"But in three or four weeks time, that value will change. In our opinion, we've got a value that we put on players and we think we're being very realistic."

Curle used Paul Anderson as an example of how a player can quickly find himself out of the game. The 31-year-old feared his career was over after being left without a club 12 months ago before the Cobblers eventually came to his rescue.

"If you have a look close to home - Paul Anderson went out of the game for a period but not because of his wage demands, purely because he couldn't get a job," Curle added.

"Michael Harriman found himself in the same situation and what we've done for Michael as a football club is that we've put him back on the map compared to the start of the season when he was unattached and couldn't get a contract.

"He came in, he earned a contract and potentially now he's earned the offer of another contract and he's also had a Wembley appearance and a promotion on his CV.

"There will be more and more players that will be in that situation this summer. If they price themselves out of the market and they don't fully understand the financial implications of where we're at today, they will find themselves looking for jobs at the wrong time of the season.

"We've got the foresight as a football club and the owners understand their finances and the club's finances and their mindset is also on the health and the wellbeing of this football club."