ALAN Reynolds is hoping James Clarke will stay at Bohemians until at least the end of the season.
Online rumours claimed the Meath man was on the verge of joining Grimsby Town only for the player to have a change of heart.
But Bohs have not received a bid for the attacker who scored an injury-time equaliser against Sligo Rovers last Friday and Rennie suggested there was no get-out clause in his contract.
Bohs have offered him a new deal and, while it is unlikely he will sign it, the club hope to have him for the remainder of the season as they cause European qualification.
Rennie said: “There’s interest in him. But look, he’s a Bohs player at the minute, and he will be unless things change, but I haven’t heard any differently.
“I suppose it’s been tricky for him, at the start of the season, he wasn’t in the team and he had to work and be patient and get in.
“Now he’s in the team, there’s interest in him. I’d love to keep him, but he’s a 24-year-old lad who probably has ambitions of going and playing across the water.”
Rennie claimed the club was not under pressure to sell rather than lose him for nothing at the end of the season.
He said: “It depends on what’s on offer, isn’t it, whether the board feels it’s worth cashing in and taking the money, but they don’t.
“They want James Clarke, they really like James Clarke as a player and would love him to stay beyond, so we’ll see what happens in that.”
Rennie would not be drawn on whether a return to Dalymount was on the cards for St Pat’s left-back Anto Breslin but admitted he wanted competition at left-back following the departure of Kian Best. But he dismissed a link with Pat Hickey of Galway United.
He said: “There’s nothing close but I wouldn’t mind maybe one more. If one came available, we’d look at it.”
Friday’s game against St Pat’s may come too early for new signing Douglas James-Taylor to start following his move from Walsall who had loaned him to sister club Drogheda United for the past year.
He said: “Dougie is one we’ve been looking at a while. Once we were made aware that he was available, it was a no-brainer. He’s a really good centre-forward, wants to score goals and is the right age for us.
“I think the big message for us is we’re trying to build something. You can see by the age of the signings that we’re making.
Now, that’s not to say we wouldn’t sign a 30-plus player for experience but we’re trying to build something. And if given time, we feel it’ll help everyone.”
Lys Mousset fell into the experienced category but the former Premier League striker has left after just one goal, a late winner away to Sligo Rovers. Rennie feels the risk was worth it.
He said: “I think it was, because if it had worked out for everyone…it was great for the league at the time, all the publicity, just getting him fit was the issue.
“Lys struggled to settle, we’ve struggled to get him fit, get him on the pitch. I think it’s probably one that everyone could see happening, let’s be honest.
“But he scored a great goal down in Sligo, which I’m delighted we can look back on, that we got three points. It just hasn’t worked. And he had a conversation with us to say, ‘look, I think it’s the right time for us to go’.”
