HARRIERS manager Mark Yates would like to keep on-loan Yeovil Town striker Darryl Knights at Aggborough next season.

The 19-year-old made a big impact as Harriers salvaged a disappointing season in the Blue Square Premier by carving out an eight-game unbeaten run during March and April.

Knights joined from League One side Yeovil on loan in January and scored four goals in 12 starts.

The former Ipswich Town man is out of contract at the Somerset club in the summer and Yates is eager to talk to Knights about joining Harriers permanently.

"Darryl is one that we're particularly interested in and we're speaking to him and his agent soon," said the manager.

"We've already spoken to a number of our targets since Saturday with a view to bringing them here but it takes time, we're not kidding ourselves on that."

Shrewsbury defender Luke Jones, who played six-times for Harriers on-loan this season, is also another player Yates may be interested in bringing back to Aggborough.

The 21-year-old settled in quickly at the club before he was recalled by new Shrewsbury manager Paul Simpson in March but has only started three games since then.

The Blackburn born centreback is also out of contract in the summer and enjoyed his brief spell at Harriers.

Yates said: "We know what a decent player Luke Jones is but we're not aware of his situation at Shrewsbury yet.

"As with all the players who we've had on loan we'd like to thank them for their efforts; we'll be in touch with them all over the next few weeks once we know what's what with their parent clubs."

Meanwhile, Yates is waiting for the six players he offered contracts on Monday to come back to him.

Strikers Matthew Barnes-Homer and Iyseden Christie, wingers Brian Smikle and Simon Russell, midfielder Andy Ferrell and goalkeeper Dean Coleman were all offered new deals.

"We want them to be part of what we're trying to build for next season and that's why we've offered them contracts," commented Yates.

"They've all got something to offer us and it's a process we want to complete as soon as we can.

"We're hopeful we can get a couple of the contracts signed within the next few days and we should have more news by the end of the week.

"Some have agreed things straight away and one or two want to go away and think about a couple of things and that's fine, I've got no problem with that and wouldn't expect them to rush into something."