Motherwell boss is eager to secure stars on longer contracts

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell is eager to secure players on longer-term contracts and avoid needing to rebuild an entire squad next summer.

Defender Ewan Wilson was this morning announced to have signed a new deal until 2027, joining Tawanda Maswanhise in signing until 2026, and goalkeeper Aston Oxborough until 2027.

Kettlewell says he’s spoken to several others, and expects more announcements.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I think that their performances have more than earned that. Trying to get a wee bit of business done and a wee bit of stability, in terms of our squad, has been really important for us.

“We had a situation last year where we were working towards maybe trying to bring players on board for longer contracts, trying to protect our assets and things like that, and that maybe fell through the cracks for one reason or another.

“That’s not a criticism, but we need to willingness of the player, of their family and their representative to be on board with that.

“Sometimes we as a football club, and even before my time, have had a wee bit of criticism for not re-signing players. People think we’ve maybe not spoken to them or not tried to make that happen, and I can assure you that we’re very forward-thinking.

“Assets at this club, guys that are performing really well, we ensure that we want to try and keep them here for as long as we can.

“We don’t want to go through too many summers like we did last year, where there’s just complete wholesale changes.

“That’s fine and well, we feel that we brought in a lot of good players, and fresh faces that add something, but you want that to be at a minimum in transfer windows, you don’t want to be doing 15 or 16 ins and the same going back out the way.

“We have