Connell Rawlinson hopes Notts County will reach an agreement with Kyle Wootton over a permanent switch to Meadow Lane after hailing the striker’s quality on and off the pitch.
The Magpies are hoping to wrap up a deal for the Scunthorpe forward having agreed a fee with the League Two Iron with the player now set to make a decision on his future.
Notts boss Neal Ardley said the club has done everything they can in order to put the best possible deal to Wootton who has become a key figure to the club’s hopes of promotion back to the Football League.
While the manager has made his feelings clear in wanting Wootton to stay, that was followed by defender Rawlinson who says the 23-year-old is loved in the dressing room.
“We would love for Kyle to be here permanently,” he said.
“You can see his quality on the pitch, and more importantly than that, he’s a great lad in the changing room.
“He is a really genuine guy and would do anything for anyone.
“Sometimes you get players who are bad eggs in the dressing room, but are great out on the pitch.
“But he’s the full package.
“Hopefully the club and himself come to some sort of agreement.
“It’s nothing to do with me on that side, but hopefully as a footballer we can have a player of his ability at the club.”
Wootton has scored 12 goals for Notts this season which has helped take them into the National League playoff positions with the club currently on an eight-game unbeaten run.
He has played 30 games so far this season having arrived from Scunthorpe in the early weeks of the campaign and has since become one of the first names on the team sheet
His goals tally so far represents the best total of his career to date with Ardley having built his team around the striker who has spent loan spells at Lincoln and Halifax in the past.
After Saturday’s 2-1 win over Bromley, which lifted Notts up to fifth in the table, Ardley was asked once again about Wootton’s future, but confirmed there were no further developments.
“We’ve done our bit,” he said.
“We’ve put a very good offer to him and we’ve agreed the deal with Scunthorpe.
“The owners, Neil Cox, the staff, and myself have busted our wotsits to try to get this done.
“It’s out of my hands. I would like him to say yes, obviously.
“One way or the other I would like Kyle to be here either on loan for the rest of the season as originally planned or whether we can make him our player permanently.
“We’ve been very pro-active.”
