Coventry City manager Aidy Boothroyd has confirmed he is desperate to keep his goal keeper Kieren Westwood until the end of his contract and does not want to lose him in the last days of the January transfer window.
In Boothroyd's words Westwood is worth nothing in four days time when the transfer period ends, but if he stays he could be worth up to £110m to the club should they gain promotion.
With just four days of the transfer window left, Boothroyd is bracing himself for a busy time because if an acceptable bid should come in for one f his players, he will haver to move fast to get in a replacement, if City are serious in their promotion desires.
Boothroyd said to the CT: "We have got four days and so many hours and seconds left of the window and I have got my little piece of paper and mobile phone charged up and ready to go and as soon as there is an out going or incoming then I will be ready to act, but at this moment in time it is like a stand-off, if you like, with all the clubs in the Premiership, Championship and Football League ready like gun slingers to use those mobiles but no-one is doing it just yet."
"So we will wait to see what happens and I'll be as quick to draw as anyone else. I would like to keep Keiren because I still think that with a smartening up of one or two things in our play and getting rid of one or two individual mistakes, that we can put a run together and go for a very successful finish to the season.
"Keiren has got six months left on his contract and in four days time is worth absolutely nothing. Having said that, he could be worth £110 million if we were to go on a run and get in the play-offs and go up, so you have to balance it all out."
"He wants to wait and see how things pan out, which is his right and I respect that, and if anyone comes in for him and the price is right then, as a club, we have got a decision to make."
"What we are not is a club that is just in it for the money because if we were then I wouldn't want to be here. We are a business and at the same time we want to build and we don't want to get a half decent team together and then just disband it, but the nature of Bosmans is that when players' contracts are up you have got to think about what you do."
"I had a similar situation with Heidar Helguson the first year I went to Watford. He had a year left and we cashed in on him for £1.2 million and I got £700,000 of that and we got promoted the next year, so it can work for you."
"You can't put all your eggs in one basket and we are not the type of club that can say 'No' to good offers, but at the same time if that offer doesn't come then Keiren will keep playing for us and I will have a top class goalkeeper for the rest of the season."
Boothroyd confirmed many fans fears that the recent drop down the league table has altered the the club's thinking saying, "If we were top of the league we wouldn't be listening to anyone, but we are not. We've had a little blip and football is all about timing and had we been in the top six at this stage then it is a lot easier to convince people not to do anything, but at this moment in time we are only 14th and therefore we have to look at the longer term picture as well as the shorter term picture."
Boothroyd, when asked about a replacement 'keeper confirmed he has contingency plans in place should Westwood leave saying, "Yes, but if in four days time Keiren is still our goalkeeper then I will be absolutely delighted. "
"If he is not and we've got a wheelbarrow full of money then that's good because that means we can reinvest it and strengthen our squad, and continue to make progress, as we have in the last six months. At this moment in time I wouldn't say I am in limbo, but I am on my toes ready to make one decision or the other."
Boothroyd is annoyed by the perception among fans that if Westwood goes it insists that even if City do cash in, it certainly doesn't mean they have given up on proves the club lacks ambition and said: "That really upsets me, the thought that anybody would think I've given up on promotion. That's not what I'm about."
"What I have to accept, which is difficult at times, is that we might not get there as fast as I want to, which is yesterday! That's my biggest weakness, I'm very impatient, but when you look at the history of this club over the past ten years and the number of managers we've had, stability and growth is very important."
"Sometimes if your best player goes everybody puts their head in their hands and says 'oh dear, what are we going to do?' but the game is full of examples of clubs who have sold their best players but re-invested that money and gone on to do really good things. It all depends on the people in charge of the money."