Russell Martin has revealed that Richard Keogh is in discussions with a Sky Bet Championship club regarding a move away from MK Dons.
Keogh was a surprise omission from Saturday’s team at Peterborough United and, speaking after the game, boss Martin explained the reason for the defender’s absence is because he is set for a move away from Stadium MK.
“It’s been a stressful 48 hours,” Martin said in his interview with iFollow MK Dons following the 3-0 defeat to Peterborough United.
“A Championship club came in for Richard which was unexpected by both us and Richard. We’ve agreed a deal with them and it’s up to him to go and agree things on his end now.
“I have nothing but good things to say about Richard. I love him as a guy and he’s been great for us. He didn’t search for this move but he wanted to take this opportunity so expressed his desire to leave. We have to emphatic – players are human beings.
“He has come back from a long time out, and back from a really tough place mentally, and worked really hard.
“His performances of late have been great and [not having him] has hindered us today. Richard was meant to start for us, so we weren’t able to do enough work with the starting XI because this all happened late on.”
Martin added: “In the cold light of day, though, if you saw the deal, for someone of his age, you would say it’s brilliant business. But, it’s only good business if we can replace him.
“We have to make sure we reinvest that into more players who can come in and produce for us. We’ve had a lot of discussions about that over the last 24 hours.
“We have a succession plan for every player. We’re having to go to it earlier than we thought with Richard, but it’s now up to us to find the next person to come in and replace him on the pitch.”
