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Clayton Ince is reported to have shirked an international call-up to play for Trinidad in the impending Gold Cup in the USA. The club's most capped player of all time is yet to put pen to paper on the two-year deal offered to him by the club and the news suggests that Ince has decided that he must put club before country in this instance. Had the athletic 'keeper travelled with Leo Beenhakker's men he would have missed half of the club's pre-season matches and Ince's decision to put his club future first could signal an end to his international prospects. The news will please Crewe boss Dario Gradi who has clashed in recent years with players whose international duties interfere with club commitments, such as Efe Sodje.
Despite the good news, Gradi remained realistic and once again stated that unless the out-of-contract players had signed by the June 30th deadline, they will not travel to the Portugal training camp with the squad, "I haven't seen or spoken to Clayton but he knows what our offer is and there isn't any real room for manoeuvre. The deadline remains the day we return for pre-season training, so if he hasn't signed then he won't be coming to Portugal with us. None of them will."
With various other players' futures to be resolved, including Adie Moses, Kenny Lunt, Neil Sorvel and Colin Murdock, Dario also stated that should players not sign, there are other options available to him, "We still have six or seven weeks to bring someone in" and "there are other avenues to investigate."