Patulea has been offered a new deal to stay at Sincil Bank

Lincoln City boss Peter Jackson has accused striker Adrian Patulea of "playing the fans against the club" to try and win a new deal.

Jackson has offered the Romanian a new contract but claims Patulea is unhappy with the terms he has been offered.

"I think maybe he might be playing the fans against the club and myself at the moment - I firmly believe that," Jackson told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

"No player is bigger than the club, no manager is bigger than the club."

It is the latest friction between Jackson and the Imps' top scorer, who netted 11 goals last season.

Earlier in the year, fans' favourite Patulea hinted he might have played his last game for the club and did not know if he had a future at Sincil Bank, Jackson labelled his comments as "silly".

We've made a contract offer to him. Hopefully he's sensible about what he's looking for. Peter Jackson

Now the Imps manager has suggested Patulea should stay at the club because of the "time and effort" put into securing his signature.

"We actually paid 17,000 Euros for him, we took him out of his contract in Romania. He feels he's not paid highly enough as they all do," Jackson said.

"We've made a contract offer to him. Hopefully he's sensible about what he's looking for but once agents become involved saying 'you can get this, you can get that' it only makes the hype even more so."

Meanwhile striker Dany N' Guessan has received a third contract offer from the Imps, although Jackson is resigned to losing him with a host of clubs in higher divisions set to talk to him.

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