Dave Challinor not ruling out further departures from Hartlepool United after Gus Maftua allowed to leave to join Boreham Wood for free

Mafuta became the second player under contract at Pools to be allowed to leave for free in as many weeks following Aidan Keena’s move to Falkirk.

While Challinor admits it’s unlikely that any more players will be allowed to leave for free before the start of the new season, the club’s financial situation means that any transfer offers and enquiries that come in will have to be carefully considered.

"I’m really happy with what we’ve done so far, but we have to be realistic with our situation,” the Hartlepool manager told The Mail.

"That means if there’s interest, whether that be in terms of paying fees or people enquiring about players, we judge every one on its individual merits.

“Like I’ve said, there was no fee involved for Gus but it was a deal that fit for everyone.

"And from our point of view we have to manage our budget really carefully and we’ve done really well with the quality of players we’ve brought in so far.

“But if there is another player in the team and a team makes an enquiry about them, be that in terms of paying a transfer fee for which again if that person who might be enquired about is an integral part of our team then that becomes a more difficult conversation.

“We have to look at and assess every enquiry that we have because we have to be realistic about the budget and where we’re at.

"That’s not to say that if someone comes along and enquires about one of our players, we’ll look to get shot of them as quickly as we can because that’s absolutely not the case.

"Each move needs to be right and as I say, Gus leaving was right and Aidan leaving before that was right as well.”

Pools currently have a squad of 15 senior players following Mafuta’s departure so several incomings are still required before the start of the National League season on October 3.

But with the competitive season still well over a month away, Hartlepool are in no rush.

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