Motherwell in 'no panic' over Rangers-bound Liam Kelly leaving, says O'Donnell as he makes Oxborough case
dailyrecord.co.ukStephen O'Donnell insists there is no panic at Motherwell amid goalkeeper Liam Kelly's exit from Fir Park and an expected switch to Rangers.Kelly was the Steelmen's number one last season and left the club at the campaign when his contract expired.
He did, however, pen a new short-term deal to cover his time away with Scotland at Euro 2024, which will pocket Motherwell a six-figure compensation fee for his international duty.It has been reported Kelly will complete his move to Ibrox upon his return from Germany, but Motherwell have yet to land a replacement and only have last season's second choice shot-stopper, Aston Oxborough, signed up as things stand.
O'Donnell told Lanarkshire Live Sport : "I know Aston Oxborough is a very good goalkeeper and we maybe haven't seen enough of him in actual games, but if you see him in training you would say he was a very good second choice to Liam. "Whether the club brings in a No.1 or not now is up to them to do, but there is no real panic."Kelly joins Blair Spittal in leaving the club for a big move, with the midfielder and last season's players' player of the year penning a three-year deal at Hearts yesterday.O'Donnell added: "Up with myself, Blair, Paul McGinn [who has signed a new deal] and Liam were all up there in terms of the highest minutes played and that gave us a real base, so we just hope the club recruits well and we don't see as big a miss on the pitch from these guys leaving."There is a rebuild to be done, but that also gives you a bit of a blank canvas and the chance to sculpt things the way exactly as the manager wants."The year before we lost Kevin van Veen, who was obviously a big player and a big goalscorer for us, but it gave other people opportunities.
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk