Jamie Russell revealed that Swindon Town are looking to extend Jack Bycroft’s contract amidst interest in him from higher up the pyramid.

Having arrived at Swindon in January from Southampton, the boyhood Town fan has been the number one ever since, starting every league game since he joined, although competition has arrived in the form of Dan Barden on loan from Norwich City.

Bycroft’s contract expired at the end of last season but Swindon picked up the option to extend his deal for an additional year and attention has already turned to making his stay even longer following the close of the transfer window.

Harrison Minturn, Gavin Kilkenny and Danny Butterworth are the only players known to have deals beyond the end of the current season and Russell said that they planned to add Bycroft to that group.

Speaking at the Fans’ Forum, Town’s Head of Football was asked about Swindon’s high turnover of players, the third most in the EFL from last season, and he said there were plans to tie key players down to longer contracts.

 

 

He said: “The other thing that we spoke about was last year we had the loan players come in but we have got some really good assets now.

“We talked about Gav, we have got Danny, we have got Jack – who we are already looking as a group around his contract situation.

“We want to secure more players to make sure that they are here for a longer period of time.”

Mark Kennedy has made no secret about his admiration for Bycroft during his time at the club despite him coming under fire from some for goals that Town have conceded in the early parts of this season.

The Head Coach has said repeatedly that he sees him as “more than a number one” and that he is a player who has attracted interest from many clubs around the leagues.

Speaking in August, Kennedy said: “[Are you concerned at all?] No, I have got no concerns about Jack. He is an outstanding talent, a brilliant pro, and an excellent ‘keeper.

“One of his biggest qualities is shot stopping and he has great feet for a ‘keeper.

“For people that don’t know, we have got a lot of people asking us about Jack, I have had multiple phone calls from people about Jack and you need to worry when you are not getting phone calls.

“I think that we have got an outstanding talent on our hands.”