McLeish keen to tie down key men

Alex McLeish will look to sort out the future of several Birmingham players reaching the end of their current contracts over the coming weeks.

The likes of midfielder Sebastian Larsson and defender Liam Ridgewell are among those McLeish hopes will sign new deals.

Larsson has recaptured his form of a couple of seasons ago while Ridgewell has made the effective switch from central defender to left-back.

McLeish said: "Right now, there are impending talks with some players' representatives.

"Michael Dunford (chief executive) and I will get down to that in the coming weeks when we can have a good look at things and see which are our priority in terms of urgency and players contracts about to expire.

"We are pretty much covered because we have got contract options on all the players so that covers us if we can't come to agreements.

"In all likelihood, we would take up all the options although I am loathe to mention names in the media just now."

Larsson was offered a new five-year deal by the previous board but talks were put on ice while the Carson Yeung takeover was completed.

McLeish is also to take a closer look at Slovakian striker Jan Novak, who is currently on trial at City from MFK Kosice.

The 24-year-old has scored 39 goals in 90 games for Kosice during the past two-and-a-half years.

McLeish confirmed: "We are looking to do more diligence on him. We are wanting to see some more DVDs of him playing at a higher level.

"We know he's done well in the Europa League against teams like Roma so we're looking to get those DVDs and also those of his international games."