OLDER and more experienced players may be coming in to make the team stronger but Jim Magilton is still expecting a couple of the home grown talent to burst through.

Derek Davis

OLDER and more experienced players may be coming in to make the team stronger but Jim Magilton is still expecting a couple of the home grown talent to burst through.

While Jordan Rhodes, Chris Casement and Liam Trotter have all experienced first-team football, more could make the breakthrough this coming season with Tommy Smith, Ed Upson, Jai Reason and Kurt Robinson leading the pack.

Those players will be with the first team during pre-season and Magilton is looking for them to show their worth.

He said: “I expect Upson, Rhodes, Reason, Robinson, Trotter and Casement and Smith to be busting a gut to win every race, everything in training, to make an impression.”

After doing so well on loan at Stevenage Borough England Under-17 international centre-back Smith has every chance of pushing into a squad bereft of centre-halves, for the moment anyway.

Magilton said: “Tommy has benefited greatly from going out on loan. He has a big pre-season ahead of him and I have high hopes for him. If he comes back and hit the new season running then he will play games.”

The future for Jaime Peters, who did enough at Yeovil to warrant Russell Slade asking to keep him, is less clear.

Magilton said: “Jaime has got games with Canada, he is playing against Brazil,, and we will have to monitor him.

“It didn't help him last year when he had so many games in the close season and that affected his pre-season.

“He finished the previous season very well but he came back looking tired.

“We know Jaime has capabilities and we now Yeovil would like to take him back on loan. That is an option we will weigh up.”

Magilton accepts other clubs could come looking for some of his star players but as yet has had no offers for anyone, including Owen Garvan, who was yesterday linked with Middlesbrough.

Magilton said: “Gareth Southgate has not called me. As Owen gets nearer his first senior cap for the Republic there is going to be a growing interest. He finished the season particularly well with a real strengths and impetus to his game.

“As much as we don't want interest in him we can't help it because his performance will attract suitors but we have not had inquiries from anyone.

“We have offered him a contract extension and there is nothing we would like more than for him to put pen to paper.

“He is a young player who we have invested in and who ahs benefited from the club. He still has a lot to learn but he has made massive strides and has played more than 100 games for this club.

“But if an offer is made to the club or the owner and it was too good to turn down then we would sell.”

Alex Bruce is also named in the Republic of Ireland squad that play two friendlies this month.