The absence of Gime Toure from the team sheet on Tuesday night sparked speculation that the forward was about to move on, with the ending of the summer transfer window scheduled for two hours after the final whistle had blown in the Papa John’s Trophy group game meeting with Hartlepool.
And manager Chris Beech confirmed today that interest had been the reason behind the player’s omission on the night.
“Gime’s got a new agent and he a had a few phone calls,” he explained. “As you know, that happened with George Tanner as well.
“When you know that’s going on in the background, it turns heads, Gime was in a bit of a similar situation, on a lesser scale, with various football clubs.
“He’d have been playing the club he used to play for, I think they also too had outside interest in what might have been, and it was very difficult to judge where he might be mentally.
“It often is with him on a good day, by the way, never mind a day of possible turmoil. But that is who he is.”
“He has skill and skill sets to win games, but his assists and goals have to go up,” he added. “That’s what an attacking player’s job is, as well as for our function and fundamentals of what we do as a team.
“Gime’s represented that very well in the past. The deadline day’s gone for league transfers, so we’ll have to wait and see.
“I’ll see how he does, how he behaves and how he represents us. If he deserves to be the main man, he’ll be the main man.”
