Jon Whitney pleased with level-headed Erhun Oztumer

The Saddlers kick off the new League One campaign on Saturday when they travel to Greater Manchester to take on Lee Clark's Shakers.

Oztumer enjoyed an outstanding debut campaign at the Banks's Stadium last year with the 26-year-old netting 15 goals and registering six assists in all competitions.

That led to a number of clubs being linked with the former Peterborough man during the close season.

But Whitney revealed Oztumer has never let the speculation get to him.

"It’s a big plus to keep him and a lot of credit has to go to Erhun," the boss said.

"Erhun could have been swayed towards the end of last season. He got a lot of praise but he is a level-headed guy and he came back absolutely chomping for pre-season.

"He has applied himself and given 100 per cent. His work ethic in the games and training has been really high.

"In the past, whenever he has not played, we have talked about how we miss his technical ability.

"But I think now we equally miss him for his work rate. That for me shows how far Erhun Oztumer has come.

"He is our player this year. And he has not once been negative. He is nothing but a Walsall player."

Meanwhile, Whitney praised the honesty of new signings Mark Gillespie, Jon Guthrie, Luke Leahy and Nicky Devlin after all four were presented with options to join other clubs after agreeing to join the Saddlers.

"We had sorted deals with John, Luke, Nicky and Mark before but we had to wait until the end of June to complete them," the boss added.

"I know lots of managers called them after they had promised themselves to us. So fair play to them for sticking to their word.

"I think the fans should be incredibly proud of those players because they stayed with it when they were offered all-kinds elsewhere.

"But they knew it was a good fit. They liked the environment and they love what we are trying to do as a club."