Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell has revealed talented teen Max Johnston has been offered a new contract amid reports of interest from top flights club across Europe.
The 19-year-old has been linked with a move to Italy this week with Bologna - who already have Scots Lewis Ferguson and Aaron Hickey on their books - interested in securing his services when his contract at Fir Park expires at the end of the season.
English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion and an unnamed German Bundesliga club are also said to be tracking the midfielder's progress.
Johnston started this season on loan at Championship club Cove Rangers and was recalled in January to assist the Steelmen in their bid to beat the drop from the Premiership.
He has already made 55 senior appearances. and Kettlewell, who replaced Steven Hammell at the helm last month, says the son of former Rangers winger Allan Johnston has an offer on the table to stick around at Fir Park beyond the end of the current campaign.
Asked if Johnston has been offered a new deal, Kettlewell told Lanarkshire Live Sport : "Absolutely, yeah. This was before I came in so I'm not going to say I have reinvented the wheel of anything.
“This club has always valued Max. This football club has always known how good a player Max Johnston is.
“I think I’ve probably indicated with team selection and how I’ve approached the job so far what I think of Max.
"Max also knows that on a personal front, so the football club had already done that work.
"There has been an offer to the player because you very much see him as part of what comes next in the future for a football club that has become synonymous with producing its own players.”
Addressing the reports in the media, Kettlewell added: “I’ve seen the reports and I understand that big teams and good clubs will be interested in good players.
"But there’s certainly been no contact directly to myself or members of the football club, and we’re set on where we want to go and what we want to do with Max.
"From a conversation with him, and I’m not speaking out of turn here, he’s very much focused on the job in hand and he wants to go and play games for Motherwell and be a success here.
“That’s all I need to know.”
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