Donaldson was voted Crewe's player of the year on Saturday

Crewe manager Dario Gradi thinks there is still a chance that League Two's joint top scorer Clayton Donaldson could sign a new contract.

The 27-year-old striker, who has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season, is a free agent in the summer.

"A lot of clubs will be keen to sign him, especially as he's on a free transfer," Gradi told BBC Radio Stoke.

"As far as I know, I won't be able to match his wages, but I'm led to believe that's not quite the case."

The Crewe boss added: "Maybe he'll say 'Thank you very much Dario, but I already know what I'm doing next year.' I'll talk to him and see."

Donaldson, who was crowned Crewe's player of the year on Saturday, has scored eight goals in his last six matches to draw level with Bury's Ryan Lowe at the top of the divisional scoring charts.

He joined the Alex from SPL club Hibernian for £200,000 in August 2008 and has netted 48 times in 129 appearances.

The contracts of several other first-team players are up for renewal at the end of the season.

"We've already had preliminary talks and we've got an idea where we're going," said Gradi. "We'll need to formalise that this week so that we can go into action."

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