Baptiste Sticks With Mansfield

Mansfield Town’s Alex John-Baptiste was a well known target for the Alex this summer. The young defender was expected to be one of the many summer signings until Mansfield slapped a £300,000 price tag on him just a couple of weeks ago.

Baptiste had a year left on his contract this summer with clubs such as Norwich City and Hartlepool thought to be tracking him. It was only Crewe who made the move for him though, but when Mansfield demanded £300,000 for the 21 year old, in the same week Danny O’Donnell signed, Dario dropped all interest.

Despite being hyped up by his agent in the media, Baptiste has obviously not attracted anyone willing enough to pay the fee for his services and today signed a new contract that will keep him at Mansfield till 2010.

Baptiste told the Mansfield Town Official Website: ‘Naturally I want to play at a higher level, and I’ve re-signed in the belief that we will be challenging next season.’