According to the Sunday Mercury, skipper Simon Osborn and midfielder Michael Standing have both signed the contracts offered to them.

The Birmingham Sunday paper seems to be suggesting that a batch of contracts must have been offered towards the end of last week, and that the two midfielders had signed, but that David Perpetuini had turned his down.

No details were given, but that is usual with Walsall, who do not like to publicise contract terms.

Meanwhile, the same paper is reporting that Leeds have received an offer for Julian Joachim which matches the valuation of the Yorkshire club, from an unknown First Division team. Unless there has been some financial assistance given, this would seem to be unlikely to be Walsall, with Hull and Sheffield Wednesday as the prime suspects.

The unheralded appearance of Jon Harkness at left back came as a shock to everyone yesterday, as, thankfully, so did the quality of his performance, but where was Perpetuini?

There had been no indication anywhere that there was any problem with the short term signing before the game and, while trying out Harkness is admirable, it seemed strange that the former Gillingham player wasn’t even on the bench, especially with no other defenders being there, either.

Rumours quickly spread on the message board that his absence was because he has already turned down a contract offer from the club, or at least, his agent has.

These rumours now appear to have been confirmed by Paul Merson in the Sunday press:-

“Perpetuini’s not signing so if they don’t sign, they don’t play. His agent turned his deal down. I’m not a pet shop and putting people in the shop window”.

It certainly seems that the left back/midfielder has had an attack of the “over ambitions” and is looking for more than the club is prepared to offer. As he was rescued from the depths of a fourth division reserve team by Merson, this seems a little ungrateful to say the least!