MORTON manager David Hopkin says he expects to hear back from last season’s squad next week before he starts to look elsewhere.

Michael Tidser, Lewis Strapp and Bob McHugh have been offered new deals by the Ton this week.

The club are also waiting to hear from Jim McAlister, Chris Millar, Gregor Buchanan and Reghan Tumilty, who triggered one-year extensions after reaching a set amount of appearances last season.

The club stated earlier in the week the players would be given until Wednesday this week to inform the club of their decision, but they have now been given longer to make a final call.

The Cappielow boss wants to start shaping his squad, and expects more movement next week with signings.

But for now the ex-Livingston and Bradford City manager is having to bide his time and says he needs to be patient until he hears back from the seven players from last season’s squad.

He told the Tele: “We need to get deals done and we need to make sure the players that have been offered something by Morton are either going to take us up on the offers or going to move on.

“Some of them might be waiting on other offers to see what’s out there, but we have made offers that we think the club can realistically pay out to players, as we need to be careful we don’t give players budgets and wages we can’t afford.

“We’re at the stage where we’ve offered deals to players and we’re waiting on them getting back to us.”

Hopkin signed his first player on Thursday, bringing in ex-Queen of the South midfielder Kyle Jacobs on a one-year deal.

The 27-year-old played under Hopkin at Livingston when he was the assistant manager back in 2015.

The manager says he knows exactly what he’s getting from the South African-born player, who can also play across the defence.

He added: “His versatility for us is huge. He’s predominantly a centre mid player but he’s played at full-back on both and at centre-back during his time at Livingston, he’s the type of player we’re going to need this season in the Championship.

“He knows how I work, and I worked with his brother Keaghan for the best part of three years also.

“Both of them were coming through Livingston at the same time, and with him signing we’ve got a little bit more competition in the middle of the park and he can play in three or four different positions.

“He had four good years at Queen of the South and I spoke to him last week and we managed to get a deal done quickly, as he was desperate to come and play for me.”