Cobblers will consider re-signing loanees as club plan 'conversation' with under-contract players

Jake Evans, Michael Forbes, Terry Taylor, Kyle McAdam and Ben Hammond have all returned to their parent clubs following time on loan at Sixfields in 2025/26. Cobblers have an option to buy both McAdam and Hammond from Nottingham Forest while Taylor is out of contact at Charlton and Evans has expressed an interest in rejoining.

"It's all up in the air and those decisions would be down to the new manager,” said Kelvin Thomas. “The loan market will be very interesting this summer because the World Cup pushes things back. We had that with the Euros a couple of years ago and there's always a knock-on effect from Premier League clubs.

"The loan market is very important and we've had success with it in the past when trying to get out of League Two. They are all in contention.”

Cobblers have 13 senior players under contract for next season, a number that would rise to 17 should Nesta Guinness-Walker, Cameron McGeehan, Sam Hoskins and Lee Burge sign new deals. Given the overhaul required after a disastrous end to the 2025/26 season, the club might look at offloading some of those players.

"There might be some conversations with the players who are under contract,” confirmed Thomas. “I don't think it was an overly controversial retained list but there was maybe some talk from the fans about the players still under contract. That's not disrespectful to them but you're part of a relegated group.

"There is some quality in there and we need to bring that out. The retained list was a conversation we had with the coaching staff and the group and I had only had a bit of input. You don't need next season's managers to make those decisions and we do have options on Jack (Vale) and Michael (Jacobs) and we expect a new manager to be in by then.

"Will all the players offered new deals sign? Probably not. Then we've got 14 or 15 and there's still nine players to add to that. And maybe one or two of those under contract drop out, or you take a bigger squad into next season.”