Allan Johnston has urged his Dunfermline side not to be distracted from their goal of the League One title after top scorer Faissal El Bakhtaoui was linked with a possible move to Motherwell.
The Premiership outfit are said to be ready to open pre-contract talks with the French-Moroccan, whose current deal with the Pars expires at the end of the season.
With a home clash tomorrow against Ayr United that could potentially prove pivotal to Dunfermline’s title hopes, Johnston yesterday refused to address whether El Bakhtaoui has been offered fresh terms by the Fifers.
However, he is hopeful any uncertainty over his players’ futures will be firmly put to one side as they chase promotion back to the Championship.
He said: “I’m sure there will be loads of teams wanting to talk to some of our players.
“But we’ve got massive games coming up and we’ve just got to make sure we’re fully focused on that.
“Everybody’s doing it for themselves anyway, but you need to put performances on to either earn a contract here or elsewhere.
“We can’t afford any distractions. We’ve just got to focus on the football.
“It’s a huge game against Ayr, one that will set a marker down if we can get a result, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on.”
Meanwhile, Dunfermline could extend their advantage over Ayr to a commanding 13 points with victory tomorrow.
However, the Pars boss believes Peterhead are firmly in the running now after leapfrogging the Honest Men into second place, and to within eight points of the Fifers, last weekend.
With Peterhead having gone 13 games undefeated, Johnston added: “I think the two of them are chasing us. If you look at Peterhead’s run, the form they’re in at the moment is incredible – the amount of goals they’ve scored, the amount of wins they’ve picked up. They’re the form team at the moment.”