Mark Kitching in talks for new Hartlepool United deal as Dave Challinor confirms that he's hoping to tie down several key players as soon as possible

Pools currently have Ryan Donaldson, Ben Killip, Gus Mafuta, Luke Molyneux and Aidan Keena contracted for next season though disussions are under way regarding new deals for out of contract players.

Challinor has already thrown the gauntlet down to Nicky Featherstone by stating he wants the midfielder to sign an extention. And Kitching is one of a number of other players also on his new contract radar.

“Kitch has been great, he’s a player who I’ve tried to sign before when I was Fylde manager and he came here instead,” said the Hartlepool boss.

“We have opened conversations with Kitch and his agent about extending his contract because we want to get as much done as we can.

“We’re sitting down with the majority of the squad and assessing where we’re at. We’re wanting the players to show they want to be here because it’s a great club to be at.

“Hopefully players will see that they can be part of something special here and that includes a big portion of the ones we’ve currently got here.

“Hopefully, we can get a lot of those sorted and tied down as quickly as we can and I can enjoy the summer a little bit more rather than panicking about having only five or six players.

“Everything is reactive in the fact that the people who have the best chance of filling slots recruitment wise are the ones who are here.

“The ones who are under our nose and are showing that they are buying into what we want and want to play here themselves.

“If we keep producing the performances like we have done then why would I be looking to make wholesale changes?

“We need to be adaptable in terms of systems and ways of playing. It’s looking at what we have and who we can tie down and then looking at where we can strengthen.

“A lot of the answers are here at the moment. If we can get agreements in place with them then it becomes easier for us as a management team.”