"I believe" - Notts County transfer exit predicted for Alassana Jatta | OneFootball

FLW's Notts County fan pundit has his say on The Magpies' January window.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It’s fair to say that Notts County endured a fairly chaotic transfer window by their usually calm and measured standards.

The saga over Dan Crowley’s future finally came to an end, with the classy midfielder making the move to League Two rivals MK Dons. In his place, came young attackers Will Jarvis and Charlie Whitaker from Hull City and Everton respectively.

Centre back Zak Johnson also arrived on loan from Sunderland after Notts were dealt two significant blows at the start of the window with the news that Lewis Macari and Lucas Ness would both be sidelined for a lengthy period.

The Magpies faithful were once again handed their dose of deadline day excitement on Monday though, when a deal was finalised for Guinean striker Mai Traore to join the club from Norwegian Eliteserien side Frederikstad.

Keeping hold of Alassana Jatta was Notts’ most important piece of business

With Notts currently sat firmly in the hunt for the automatic promotion spots in League Two, the January window was always going to be about who they could keep hold of, just as much as it was who they could bring in.

That has proved to be the case in the last couple of weeks, when news of Notts rejecting a bid of £750,000 from Plymouth for Alassana Jatta has since had the fanbase on red alert.

Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth were also reportedly interested in the Gambian (according to The Guardian), but Notts were holding out for an offer in excess of £1million for their star man, which thankfully never came.

We spoke to FLW’s resident Notts County fan pundit, Stephen Smith, to find out his thoughts on the Magpies’ window and, unsurprisingly, he too placed huge importance on the club keeping hold of Jatta.

Stephen said: “Managing to keep Alassana Jatta in the January transfer window was massive. There was talk of Plymouth and Bolton both being interested in him and the one thing we really wished for was for him not to go.

“We also brought in Mai Traore as well, which is a brilliant signing. I believe Jatta will go in the summer, and Traore is his replacement, so bringing him to the club in January is perfect timing as it gives him time to settle in.

"You’ve got to praise the club in this window really for keeping Jatta and, to some extent, Jodi Jones and David McGoldrick.

"The business they’ve done, getting rid of Dan Crowley to MK Dons for some money and then bringing in Traore, Notts’ business has been second to none in this window, I couldn’t praise them highly enough.”

Notts may already have Jatta’s replacement lined up

Keeping hold of Jatta was a vital part of Notts’ winter window and, now that the deadline has passed, and he is still a Notts player, they are surely in a fantastic position to go on and have a strong push for promotion.

Jatta has become a key figure in Stuart Maynard’s side this season. He already has 13 league goals and four assists to his name from just 23 games, but as much as anything, it is his link-up play and his physical presence that makes him so integral to Notts.

It is admirable that the club were only prepared to lose him for what is an incredible amount of money at League Two level. However, just because they’ve managed to fend off interest for now, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be expecting it in the summer.

If Jatta continues his rich vein of form until the end of the season, he will only have more and more clubs chasing his signature, which in turn, will drive his price up even more.

From Notts’ perspective though, in Traore, they may well have already found Jatta’s replacement, similarly to how the Gambian came in last January and ultimately replaced Macaulay Langstaff.

Traore will take time to bed into the English game, but with over 60 appearances in the Norwegian top flight to his name by the age of 25, the early signs are certainly positive that Notts may well have discovered another hidden gem from elsewhere in Europe.