Livingston boss David Martindale says he’s ‘confident’ his out of contract stars will put pen to paper in the coming weeks.
The Lions gaffer told the Courier that he starts to plan the process of sitting down with players who are in the final year of their deal on Monday and believes most will be happy to stay at the club.
However, he says he may have no option but to sell those who see their future elsewhere in the January transfer window.
He commented: “There’s four or five big players in this squad who are out of contract in the summer and we’ll start the process of talking to them and their agents on Monday.
“The plan was to do that after the transfer window shut because if they wanted to leave, we weren’t going to stand in their way and that is always the case.
“I’m very positive about how those conversations will go and to be honest I think most will be more than happy to stay at the club.
“If some don’t then I’m going to have to be looking at trying to sell them in the January transfer window and try to get something for them.”
He added: “It’s one thing in football that really irks me. You put time and effort and investment into a player, hopefully making them better, and then they get to leave for nothing.
“Don’t get me wrong, I understand why and it’s a big part of football. I’ve benefited from it at times as well but it’s a shame when you do lose a player for no return.”
Captain Nicky Devlin, centre-back Jack Fitzwater and midfielders Jason Holt, Stephane Omeonga, Scott Pittman and Andrew Shinnie head the list of players whose contracts run out at the end of the season.
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