Green contract '˜virtually done', says Murray

Mansfield Town's Matt Green heads towards the Harlepool area - Pic Chris Holloway

Green’s future had been the subject of intense speculation over the summer with rumoured interest from a handful League One clubs.

Two approaches were turned away for the 29-year-old and Murray underlined his value to the club by slapping a £5m tag on the striker’s head.

Reports in London suggested Leyton Orient had lodged a £500,000 bid on the eve of the Stags visit to Brisbane Road.

But in attempts to put a stop to the rumours Murray and the club released a statement insisting Green would remain at the One Call Stadium.

Talks began over a new contract to tie Green to the club long-term and Murray sounded confident the matter would be settled soon.

Speaking about the progress of those talks, Murray said: “I think he and the chairman have had a conversation and it’s virtually done.”

Stags haven’t scored since their 2-1 victory over Orient on August 27, when Green popped up to score a late winner after missing a first half penalty.

Murray stated Green had been unsettled by the speculation after Saturday’s goalless draw at Hartlepool but has backed all his strikers to find the net.

Only top of the table Plymouth Argyle (six), fifth placed Portsmouth (six) and mid-table Barnet (five) have conceded less than the Stags (seven).

“We pride ourselves on not conceding goals,” said Murray. “I think that gives you a base to go on and win games. We’ve just got to be a little bit more ruthless. We had chances Saturday but we’ve got to start taking them.

“We’ve got Pat Hoban waiting in the wings, he could jump through my wall any minute now to ask why he’s not playing, Hendo (Darius Henderson) is match fit now, Danny Rose has been excellent for me so far. We’ve got goals in the team. Barnet we had chances.

“We’re creating chances. It’s not something we’re overly concerned about. We know when we get the structure right we can build right. It was the same last year. I think the fact that we’ve used more players than we wanted to has probably slowed down our progress to be consistent. We’re on track though.”

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