Dean Keates: Walsall Preparing For Life Without Erhun Oztumer

Walsall manager Dean Keates has spoken to the local press and admitted that despite club officials offering him a new deal, they are planning for life without top-scorer Erhun Oztumer, as the former Peterborough United midfielder is keen to consider his options following two seasons at Banks's Stadium.

Twenty-six year-old, Greenwich-born Oztumer, who scored seventeen goals in fifty first-team appearances over the course of the 2017/18 campaign, is likely to be inundated with contract offers as he looks to ply his trade higher up the football pyramid following four successive seasons in League One.

Dean, who was speaking via the Express & Star, said; "The club were made aware in January that Ozzy wanted to see what offers were out there. In my conversation with him, I wished him all the best and thanked him for everything.

"He is going to go out and see what options are out there. But, as I’ve said to him, he knows where the football club is. I have to look elsewhere though."