No contract talks until after FAI Cup final insists Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins

With Ciaran Coll, Daniel Lafferty, James Akintunde and Jordan McEneff all out of contract at the end of the campaign, Higgins insists talks won't begin until the Extra.ie FAI Cup Final against Shelbourne is put to bed.

Coll, Lafferty and Akintunde have been involved in the major of Derry squad this season, but McEneff has only featured in two games since joining in August, coming off the bench against UCD and Sligo Rovers.

However on the plus side the Brandywell men have already 17 players signed up for the 2023 season something which hasn't happened in recent times.

"There aren't too many players out of contract at the end of the season, but now isn't the right time to be talking about that," he insisted.

"There has been too much at stake over the last few months and that's why it has kind of been parked until the end of the season and to be fair players are smart and they know that there's a lot at stake."

The Limavady native also admitted that towards the end of the 2021 season talks took place with an unnamed player and he felt that the player's form dipped slightly, so because of that talks about new deals are taking a back seat until the Aviva showdown is complete.

"I remember last season whenever I started speaking to a player about a new deal and it took a wee bit longer than what it should've, his form maybe slightly dipped, so you have to be mindful of all those things," the Derry boss added.

"Unless it's going to be a quick solution then you're better delaying it."