Doncaster Rovers midfielder name-checked as having 'option' in contract as expiry date looms

And he name-checked one player in particular - midfielder Zain Westbrooke. The 27-year-old penned a one-year deal last summer and is one of many Rovers players in the final few months of his deal. He is currently making progress on his return from injury and hasn’t played since late November.

With another busy summer looming, McCann and his staff have plenty to consider with so many nearing the expiry of current terms.

When quizzed by the Free Press if there are players who the club has options on or who will automatically trigger extensions by racking up a certain number of appearances, McCann gave a lengthy response.

"Obviously when you come into a football club and there's historic contracts, there's not much you can do about it really," said McCann. "If I think back to the summer and who we signed and the players who had clauses put in their contracts, there's a few. Zain Westbrooke is one of them that has an option on his contract.

"I've always thought that if I have given a player a contract and there's a certain clause in there that is triggered, I don't worry about because at the end of the day I (chose) to put that to them. I'm not the type to think if a player is one game away from triggering that I can't use them again. I would never do that and don't think that's fair. I think that Terry (Bramall) and Gavin (Baldwin) know that I'm like that as well.

"But you have to be mindful that we have got quite a few players out of contract in the summer and there's going to have to be a time when we sit down and discuss new deals with ones we want to.

"I guess what we want to do is get ourselves in a good position in the division over these next four or five weeks and then start worrying about how we go about next year, even though those conversations are happening behind the scenes."