Central Coast Mariners head coach Nick Montgomery said the club won’t stop Jason Cummings if the star striker is tempted to leave Gosford at the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League Finals Series.
Cummings has been linked with a move to cashed-up Indian Super League champions ATK Mohun Bagan after thriving under Montgomery’s watch.
Since arriving in Australia almost 18 months ago, Cummings has scored 26 goals in 46 league games with his strong domestic form propelling him into the Socceroos set-up and a FIFA Men’s World Cup berth.
The Scottish-born forward will be critical to the Mariners’ hopes of beating Adelaide United over a two-legged Semi Final, starting at Coopers Stadium on Saturday, and advancing to the Grand Final.
“He’s been our top scorer last year and this year, so there’s always going to be interest in him as well as a lot of the younger players,” Montgomery said.
“We don’t worry about stuff like that, we will get through to the end of the season.
“This club is a selling club so everybody has a price tag. We don’t hold players back from going onto big things.
“So whether it’s Jason or if it’s anybody else … I could go through the whole squad and I think there’s probably interest in most of the players.
“But they’re professional enough to just get their head down and focus on the next couple of weeks, starting with Adelaide on Saturday night.”
The Mariners head to Adelaide brimming with confidence after thrashing the Reds 4-1 in their last meeting.
Montgomery knows lightning won’t strike twice but he was keen to disprove comments from Adelaide captain Craig Goodwin the Mariners were a “long-ball team”.
“We don’t look at our games in the past,” he said. “Adelaide are a very good team and they’ve got some very good players.
“We go out to attack and win games of football. That’s the only way that you win games of football, you sit back and defend for 90 minutes you’re never going to win.”
