Walsall boss wants new deals for club's stars

It was recently revealed the club have entered contract talks with four players, including top scorer Tom Bradshaw.

Agreeing terms with goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell and vice-skipper Paul Downing – whose current deals expire at the end of the season – is also a pressing concern, while the club also want to tie down promising young teenage wideman Rico Henry.

And after meeting with chief executive Stefan Gamble, Smith hopes everything will be sorted quickly, preferably within the next month.

"I had a meeting with Stefan and there are some key players we are going to speak to and negotiate new contracts for, that will be done over the next month," he said.

"There are some players out of contract at the end of the season that would like to get sorted straight away."

"We have been doing it the last few years and it has worked well for us. I have spoken to a few players already and I will be speaking to a few more as well."

Since 2012, the Saddlers have followed a policy of rewarding their brightest young players with improved deals and Smith acknowledges he must always have one eye on the long-term future.

"I think you have to, it is an important part of the job," he explained. "It is just not about this season and the following season.

"You look to improve and you can only do that by having a long-term plan and being organised and ready for that."

One player who signed an improved deal last season was midfielder Sam Mantom, who has been restricted to just four substitute appearances this term by a persistent knee injury.

Now there is hope at the end of the tunnel with Smith revealing exploratory surgery has given the 23-year-old the confidence to play through the pain if necessary to finally shake off his problems.

"He knows now that if he feels a pain that he's just got to get on with it because we've been inside his knee and there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it," he said. "He's in a better place for that now because he knows if he feels it we can't do anything else with it.

"We've had a few timescales that have kept going backwards, so there's no timescale.

"He's just got to tell us when he's ready to start training and then joining in games, and we've certainly got enough of them to come.

"I'm sure he's got his eye on a Wembley appearance of some sort."