Gillingham assistant boss Paul Raynor would love to keep working with defender Connor Ogilvie but knows money talks.

The club shrugged off interest earlier this week , according to manager Steve Evans, but the speculation hasn't gone away.

Gills assistant boss said: “I don’t think it will ever be dead in the water with Connor Ogilvie because he is a fantastic footballer.

“With the way he has started this year there is always going to be interest in him because he is tremendous footballer. He has been brilliant for us. I am sure there will be interest as long as he is at Gillingham because he is a top, top player.”

The Gills may decide to cash in on the 24-year-old who is in the second of his two-year deal. He was manager Steve Evans’ first signing at the club.

Evans said they fended off interest from north of the border but the domestic transfer window remains open until Friday, October 16.

“We want to keep him,” said Raynor, who was on press duty following the 2-0 EFL Trophy defeat at Ipswich .

“We have rebuffed it at the moment. We can't help people speculating and people calling us and asking what we want and making bids, we can’t stop that, but we want him to be around us for a long time.

“It doesn’t surprise me that people are interested in him because he has been absolutely top drawer.

“Nobody stays at Tottenham Hotspur until they are 22 unless they have a lot of quality and other things going for them.”

Ogilvie has continually improved during his time at the Gills, initially joining on loan under Steve Lovell and then making it permanent when Evans took over.

Raynor said: “We seem to have brought the best out of him, he likes to play the way we do, he has got aggression and lots of energy.

“We hope to have him around for a long, long time but you never know in football, money talks. We are happy to have him and hopefully for us he will be around our squad for a long time. You never know in football, particularly in these tough times.”

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