Emerton To Sign New Deal

It has been reported that versatile 27-year-old Brett Emerton is to sign a new long-term contract to keep him at Ewood Park. Mark Hughes believes that a new contract will be completed within the next few days.

The Australian International has been linked with Middlesbrough throughout the summer, but manager Mark Hughes believes that all that’s left to do is for Emerton to iron out the final details of the contract and to dot the i’s and cross the t’s to keep him at the club for another two or three seasons.

“Brett should commit in the next day or so,” Hughes would tell Sky Sports.

“We’ve been talking to him for a number of weeks, and certainly in the last couple of days to try to come to a resolution.”

Hughes would also say

“He’s a player who gives me a lot of options. He is very versatile in that he can play wide, at full back and he can make breaks from the centre of the park. He has the ability to carry the ball from one end of the field to the other, and that’s why other teams have coveted him this summer.”

Should Emerton sign a new deal, he will follow 28-year-old New Zealand International Ryan Nelsen in committing to the club. Nelsen penned a new four-year contract extension on Wednesday after speculation that he was to leave the club, with Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp being an admirer and tabling three bids, the last reported to be in the region of £5 million.