Cobblers boss Curle has sights set on four more signings

There was a flurry of activity at the PTS Academy Stadium last week, with four more players joining the club in Nicky Adams, Alan McCormack, Ryan Watson and Steve Arnold.

That took the total incomings this summer so far to eight, with the other new faces being Matty Warburton, Joe Martin, Chris Lines and Harry Smith.

A total of 11 players have also left the club, with the eight who were released at the end of the last campaign being joined by John-Joe O’Toole, Ash Taylor and Daniel Powell, who have signed for Burton Albion, Aberdeen and Crewe Alexandra respectively.

So it has been a pretty hectic time over the past month or so, but Curle says he is still expecting plenty more activity as he looks to continue building up his squad.

Asked how many more players he is hoping to bring in, the Town boss said: “Ideally, we are going to be able to bring in another four.

“That would take the squad up to 20 or 21 players, and then we have the younger players that we think will play a big part as well.

“Some of those players, the natural development will be that they don’t make the first team squad so they will go out on loan.

“I think we will have a competitive squad, and competition is so important.”

Curle has been busy meeting players and their representatives for months now, and those meetings will continue to take place over the coming weeks.

The Town boss has been delighted with how the recruitment has gone so far, but he appreciates he is going to hit some stumbling blocks along the way, and hinted he will also be leaving one or two slots open until much nearer the start of the season on August 3.

“Maybe there will be players that we might miss out on, but then there will be other players who become available,” said Curle.

“They might go back to their clubs, have two or three weeks of pre-season and find out they are not in the manager’s plans.

“So players will be made available at that time, so we still want to have money available and room available if the right player comes along, as we want to be able to fit them into the squad as well.”

Meanwhile, Curle has confirmed there has been interest in some of the contracted Cobblers players from other clubs, but that nothing has as yet come of that interest.

Central defender and player of the year Aaron Pierre has been linked with several league one clubs in recent weeks, but as it stands he very much remains a Cobblers player.

“There has been interest in one or two players, but there has been no interest in one or two as well who have been told they are available,” said Curle, who transfer-listed Billy Waters and Joe Bunney last month.

Aside from Bunney and Waters, the other players from last season who remain under contract are David Cornell, Jordan Turnbull, Shaun McWilliams, Sam Hoskins, Andy Williams, Junior Morias and the group of eight teenage academy graduates, which includes Jay Williams and Scott Pollock.

And Curle added: “We won’t force anybody out of the door, and if players move on it has got to be right for them, for the football club and also for me.

“We don’t need to force anybody out, but some of the players in the squad will realise they might not get the game time they want.

“It will then be down to them for their own benefit to get their agents to up their workload and get them that game time somewhere else.”