Super seven

ORIENT manager Geraint Williams will need to bring in at least SEVEN major summer signings - even if all four of the players offered new contracts agree to stay. With a tight budget, Williams is likely to work with a 22-strong squad next season and curre

ORIENT manager Geraint Williams will need to bring in at least SEVEN major summer signings - even if all four of the players offered new contracts agree to stay.

With a tight budget, Williams is likely to work with a 22-strong squad next season and currently has just 10 players under contract.

That figure will become 11 as skipper Stephen Purches has a new deal on the table, automatically triggered after playing a set number of games.

If Sean Thornton, Scott McGleish, Andrew Cave-Brown, and Loick Pires all take up their offers, Williams will have 15 players in his squad, but of those, just EIGHT would be considered front-line players.

With everyone fit, it's unlikely that Cave-Brown, Pires, Glenn Morris, JJ Melligan, Luke Ashworth, Ryan Jarvis and Harry Baker would be in the starting 11.

The current wafer-thin squad, could become even thinner, as midfield star Adam Chambers has been linked with a move to Peterborough, and when any transfer window opens, ace defender Tamika Mkandawire and young star Jason Demetriou are linked with moves away from Brisbane Road.

However, the club have shot down speculation regarding Posh's interest in Chambers.

"We've had no contact at all from Peterborough United about Adam Chambers, there's no truth in it," said chief executive Matt Porter on Tuesday.

"And we have had no enquiries about Tamika or Jason either," he added.