Williamson delays signing new deal (From Bucks Free Press)

Williamson delays signing new deal

10:30am Friday 12th December 2008

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WANDERERS defender Mike Williamson is stalling on signing a new deal at Adams Park.

The in-form centre half is refusing to put pen to paper on the club’s latest improved contract offer amid speculation that bigger clubs are about to swoop in January.

His performances this year have caught the attention of a host of Championship clubs including Birmingham City, Watford and Charlton and the defender has made no secret of his ambition to move up.

The 25-year-old’s current contract expires at the end of the season and if Wanderers can’t pin him down to a new long-term deal he could leave on a free transfer in the summer if the Blues don’t sell in January.

Wanderers have already laughed off a £100,000 bid from League One Colchester United and Blues won’t let him go anywhere on the cheap.

The League Two leaders would sooner run the risk of letting him leave for nothing at the end of the season rather than sell him for peanuts in the middle of their promotion push.

Boss Peter Taylor said: “If the vultures come in for any of my players in January they are going to need quite a bit of money.

“We’re not going to let anybody go on the cheap.

“If we get an unbelievable offer for Mike in January we will have to think about it but I want him to stay here and help us get promotion.

“And if we do get promotion it might even help to persuade Mike to stay here.”

Williamson is a slight doubt for tomorrow’s home clash against Luton Town with a groin problem but Taylor insists he has no problem with the former Southampton trainee’s stance.

He said: “Mike hasn’t signed and I don’t expect him to, that’s how football is.

“He has decided that he wants to wait and see what happens and I can respect that. I’m sure Mike is looking at playing in the Championship and I would expect all of my players to be ambitious like that.

“I’ve asked him on a few occasions if he is going to sign a new contract, but I’m not going to put a gun to his head. He has got to be happy.”

And he says the breakdown in contract talks have had no bearing on the defender’s performances on the pitch.

Taylor said: “He’s been excellent and that’s why we want to keep him.”

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