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Page last updated at 20:52 GMT, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 21:52 UK

Craig Brown resigned to losing Mark Reynolds

Europa League qualifier, second leg
Time: 2015 BST Date: Thursday 22 July Venue: Kopavogsvollur, Iceland
Coverage: Live scores on the BBC Sport website; on BBC Radio Scotland 810MW and on digital

Mark Reynolds
Reynolds has been linked with Nottingham Forrest and several other English clubs

Motherwell manager Craig Brown admits Thursday's Europa league qualifier in Iceland against Breidablik could be Mark Reynolds' last match for the club.

He also insists Fir Park signing targets have been identified, but he needs his current players to progress in Europe to carry out his plans.

"If or when we get any funds, we know where to go to get some players," said the former Scotland manager.

"We have one or two on hold but they can't wait forever obviously."

Defender Reynolds is reportedly attracting interest from a number clubs, although Brown told BBC Scotland he would be more than happy for the player to stay.

For his sake, I would hope it is Mark's last game - but, personally, Archie Knox and I regard him highly and hope he stays with us

Motherwell manager Craig Brown

"For his sake, I would hope it is Mark's last game - but, personally, Archie Knox and I regard him highly and hope he stays with us," said Brown.

"But for his own career and the future he has football, it would be good for him to get a move.

"He's been a wonderful servant here - he's an outstanding player, and any club getting him gets a gem, in my opinion.

"But, at the moment, he's here and I won't be terribly upset if we keep him, because losing him would mean finding a replacement.

"And that's not going to be easy."

The Lanarkshire club take a 1-0 lead to Iceland in the second qualifying round of the Europa League and have the incentive of a match against Norwegian side Aalesunds in the next round.

The home leg of that tie could secure enough money to bring in another player and put Motherwell on the verge of a glamour clash in the play-off round, when they would lose their seeded status and face the prospect of meeting a side like Liverpool or Juventus.

Brown, who assessed several trialists during a practice match against Mixu Paatelainen's Kilmarnock at the weekend, said: "We've got one or two ideas of players we saw against Kilmarnock on Saturday.

"Mixu had a few trialists and we had a few trialists and I think both of us were quite pleased with what we saw.

"The research to improve our team is relentless - that's the message to our fans.

"We'll do our very best for the fans of Motherwell to get suitable reinforcements. Our top squad is good and we have excellent youth players but we haven't got enough cover.

"We have only two experienced strikers. Gary Smith and Bob McHugh are coming through but we only have John Sutton and Jamie Murphy who are experienced strikers."

However Brown is confident Motherwell can score in Iceland to leave their hosts needing three goals and believes it could be an incentive for the players to help boost the club's squad.

"If we can survive this round, that's added income which gives us resources to pay new players," said Brown.

"We can consider paying a wage but that's restricted at the moment to a striker.

"We've got a budget for that and nothing else. To add to our squad we have to succeed in Europe and that's a terrific motivation for us."



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see also
Brown touts Reynolds for Forest
29 Jun 10 |  Motherwell
Reynolds facing career decisions
03 Sep 09 |  Motherwell


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