Cliftonville manager Paddy McLaughlin says there is “no way” he wants Joe Gormley to leave the North Belfast club this summer.
The experienced striker, who has scored 247 goals for the Reds in two spells at Solitude, has been linked with Larne and Ballymena United in recent days.
Larne owner Kenny Bruce played down reports connecting Tiernan Lynch's men with a renewed pursuit of Gormley on Wednesday and insisted the Inver Park club's “shopping is done”.
Ballymena did test the waters with a recent offer but McLaughlin is keen to keep the 31-year-old in his attacking armoury for the new campaign.
“We don’t want anyone to leave and certainly not Joe,” he said.
“I’m hearing the rumours like everyone else, but as far as I’m concerned there’ll be no players leaving Cliftonville.
“We’ll see what happens, but Joe has been the leading marksman in the division for a long time and hopefully he continues to do that as a Cliftonville player.
“Do I want him to stay? 100 percent. I don’t want him to leave. He’s a top striker so there’s no way we want to lose him.”
Gormley helped fire the Reds to league title glory in 2013 and 2014 and rejoined the Solitude club in 2017 after a spell with Peterborough United.
He went on to break Kevin McGarry’s longstanding goal scoring record for Cliftonville when he bagged his 171st for the club in a 3-2 defeat to Crusaders in October 2018.
McLaughlin, who recently signed a new contract at Solitude, believes Cliftonville have done “good business” so far this summer.
Midfielder Chris Gallagher, goalkeeper Luke McNicholas, winger Jamie McDonagh and defender Jonny Addis have all been recruited in recent weeks.
“We have signed well,” he said. “We’ve brought in some good players and had a good transfer window, so fair play to (chairman) Gerard (Lawlor) and the club.
“We have been able to add quality and established Irish League players to what we already have and we’re excited for what the new season might bring.”
Asked if Cliftonville’s business is done for the summer, McLaughlin said: “We’re happy with the squad and if the window was to close now, we’d be content.
“But it’s not closed yet and we’d be even happier if we could add possibly one or two more, so you never know what could happen.”
