Joey Barton talks contracts at Bristol Rovers

The influential duo of Sam Nicholson and Anthony Evans are two of the 13 Bristol Rovers players who have deals expiring in the summer.

The pair have been two of the club’s best players this season but they must command a mutual desire to stay at the club says manager Joey Barton.

The Gas had a big rebuild in the summer after their relegation from League One, with many of the players joining the club on one-year deals, including Anthony Evans who arrived in Bristol upon the expiry of his contract from German side SC Paderborn 07.

The Liverpool-born attacking midfielder has been one of the bright sparks of the Bristol Rovers side and has recorded six goals and six assists in 21 games and Barton is very keen on keeping him and fellow attacker Sam Nicholson around.

“We’ll try and get those deals over the line if they are possible. We have to be mindful of not breaking our pay structure,” he said, speaking to Bristol World.

This comes as young full-back Luca Hoole was tied down for another two years, signing a contract extension.

“If they do sign a deal then fantastic, I’ll be delighted as Hooley’s done and we can continue their development.”

“If they don’t then they’ll do everything they can for the quarters until the end of the season where they’ll go to pastures new and that’s football sometimes. Im optimistic, we’ve got a better chance of keeping our talent now then when I walked into the building” he said.

The Verdict

Rovers are now 10 points off the play offs and with 18 games left of the season may still have an outside chance of getting into the top seven, which may make the difference in keeping their top players, however, they must pull together a consistent run of results which they have not managed to do yet this