JUST IN: Alex Mccarthy finally speaks on his career decision on leaving Southampton to sign a new contract this summer.

Russell Martin, the Southampton manager,

has stated that negotiations over Alex McCarthy’s contract status will not take place until the end of the current campaign.

Regardless of how their season concludes, Southampton will have a busy summer ahead of them,

but for now, all of their attention will be on tonight’s play-off semifinal second leg against West Brom.

Things are evenly balanced going into the teams’ trip to St. Mary’s after a scoreless draw in the first tie.

The winner will play Leeds United at Wembley Stadium the following weekend to secure a

spot in the Premier League following the Whites’ impressive annihilation of a horrified Norwich City on Thursday night.

As things stand, Alex McCarthy, Southampton’s recent stand-in goalkeeper,

is one of the players that will be leaving this summer due to pressing concerns involving player contracts.

As his contract expires, he has also been linked to Celtic, Newcastle United, and Liverpool.

But for the time being, Russell Martin and company are making sure that the season is concluded with a bang.

He affirmed that discussions over McCarthy’s future will wait till the campaign is over, as reported by the Daily Echo.

“It’s just [been about] letting Alex focus on his football,” he said.

“It’s been about letting him perform. He’s been fantastic, he’s been so good since he came into the team.

He brings a real calm and influence, been great with his feet and with his hands.

He was massive on Sunday, we’re going to need that again for sure.

“For now the focus for everyone, Che [Adams], Alex, Stu [Armstrong], is about getting the club promoted.

“That has to be the aim and then whenever the season finishes,

hopefully not for another 10 days or so, we will all sit down.”

The right move?

Southampton and McCarthy will be laser focused on their clash with West Brom and should they progress through that tie,

the full attention will switch to the play-off final against Leeds United.

At such a crucial time in the season where pre-match preparation needs to be precise and meticulous,

avoiding distractions such as player contracts is a must.

Perhaps players would rather know their fate sooner rather than later but with promotion yet to be decided,

they’ll be putting all their power into taking this last shot at rising from the Championship.

For that reason, it makes complete sense to put talks on hold for the time being.

The matter can be resolved once Southampton know what league they’ll be playing in and they’ll have more

time to devote to thrashing out the matter once the play-offs are done.

It’s all or nothing for Southampton and West Brom going into tonight’s match.

After the first leg ended in a 0-0 tie, the victor of this second leg advances to the championship match.

Both the Saints and the Baggies have been play-off regulars for the past year;

the former recovered well from a weak start with an incredible unbeaten run, while the latter finished the season ranked fifth.

Both sides would be devastated to lose now after coming this far, but tonight one will experience despair.

At 20:00, the game begins at St. Mary’s Stadium.

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