Maidstone United announce departure of Josh Shonibare after winger rejects contract offer

Winger Josh Shonibare has left Maidstone United after turning down a contract for next season.

Boss George Elokobi made what he described as a good offer to Shonibare, who scored four goals in 12 league games following his arrival in February.

But the 24-year-old rejected the deal and has departed two games before the end of the National League season.

“We’ve made offers to a couple of players we feel can add value to our squad,” Elokobi told Stones TV.

“One of them not here with us today is Josh Shonibare, who we made a good offer to from the club’s perspective, from myself.

“He turned down the offer and it was right that as soon as that offer was turned down, we have to move on to our next targets because we haven’t got any time to wait for anyone to make a decision.

“Yes, we want players to commit but we want honesty from both parties.

“As of today, he’s not a Maidstone United player.

“That decision was made by myself and the board and we move on from that to our next target.

“But also I want to reiterate how thankful I am as the manager, on behalf of the club, for his contributions.

“He’s shown some good moments with us this season.

“We’d have loved him to carry on developing with us and keep bringing those good moments when he played to his full potential but that hasn’t been the case in the last three, three-and-a-half weeks, hence why I’ve made a decision to move on from Josh Shonibare.”

Relegated Maidstone host Notts County in their last home game of the season this afternoon.

Notts, who’ll be backed by almost 1,000 travelling fans, need to win and hope Wrexham fail to beat Boreham Wood in order to take the title race to the final day.