Valerien Ismael has confirmed he wants Ryan Hedges to be at Blackburn Rovers next season.
The 29-year-old is out of contract in the summer but the club have a one-year option to extend his stay at Ewood Park. The Lancashire Telegraph reported earlier this year that Rovers have indicated they would offer Hedges a new contract until 2027.
However, those talks have been shelved with John Eustace leaving during a chaotic period on and off the pitch. It means Hedges remains out of contract this summer, as it stands.
Ismael was clear that he expects the Welshman to be at Ewood Park next season, though.
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"Yes, definitely. Ryan, I expected him to be here next season," Ismael told The Lancashire Telegraph.
"I spoke with him already. So now I think it's about the club (to sort it out). I think he's a player who's got that energy, that intensity.
"With my way to play, it will be good for him. It's about to get a good pre-season for all of them. If we're able to go through that pre-season.
"Six, seven weeks of hard work together to get that intensity. Then I think we can get much more out of Ryan."
"I think that we are talking with players and I will start the talks," he continued.
"Some players we give the feeling and where we want to go. We will continue now with the next week as well just to get the plan.
"Now I've got real clarity. The good thing I can say is when you go through a tough period at the beginning, you see clearly the reliability of the players. I have to say this group is an honest group of players.
"We can build on this because they are ready to stick together in a tough time. When the good times happen it's easier to manage the players. That's why we will have to think about the structure of the team for next season.
"For sure we will have some new players coming in, it's clear. But on the other hand, I need some stability in the squad. Some good balance in the squad and you can only get that with experience."
Rovers have five loan players who are all set to return to their parent club. Realistically, Cauley Woodrow is the only player who could potentially sign permanently.
Ismael offered little indication as to whether he would be keen to extend his relationship with a player he knows very well.
"We are still in the assessment situation with the loan players, We didn't make a big decision on that. It means that it's neither for or against at the minute," he said.
"We already started to talk with the players out of contract to give our feeling of what they want as well. So some situations will be easy to deal with. Other situations will be a little bit more complicated, like Tyrhys.
"At the minute with the loan player, we didn't take any decisions."
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