Crawley Town boss John Yems on Newcastle United winger rumours and whether the Bristol Rovers game should go ahead

Crawley Town boss John Yems thinks Wednesday's match with Bristol Rovers may be 'a little bit too soon'.
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The Reds boss also confirmed they are interested in signing Newcastle United winger Rosaire Longelo.

Speaking after a training session with only six first teamers today (Thursday, December 23) Yems said: "We have had a group come in who are getting over it but it’s still not right - but it is what it is. We will know a little more as we go on.

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Crawley Town boss John YemsCrawley Town boss John Yems
Crawley Town boss John Yems
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Reds' Boxing Day clash with Stevenage has already been called off because of Covid cases in the Crawley camp, but Wednesday night's game at the People's Pension Stadium is currently still going ahead and that's what Yems is preparing for.

He said: "You have got to prepare for it but you are not preparing how you would want to prepare. Just talking to other managers it’s the same everywhere.

"But I see they have called off another couple of Premier League games (Liverpool v Leeds and Wolves v Watford) on Boxing Day.

"We are preparing to get the players all ready for all scheduled games, I just hope they are come back as fit as they can be and just hope their families are ok as well. The family takes priority as far as I am concerned.

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"The secret of it is not to take your foot off it too much but with the current climate and the Covid, you have to make sure that we don’t over do it."

The available Reds players will be training on Boxing Day.

Transfer rumours

Newcastle-based website The ChronicleLive this week linked 22-year-old Toon winger Longelo with a move to Crawley Town.

He is out of contract at the end of the season and is due to become a free agent next summer with new boss Eddie Howe expected to let him go.

And Yems confirmed the club are interested. He said: "I am always looking for good players to improve this squad, so anyone who becomes available who we fancy we will be interested.

"We are interested in him, and he is interested in us. At the moment two or three clubs are interested but I am not going to get caught playing off against other people."