Maidstone boss Jay Saunders has been shocked by the money being thrown around in non-league football this summer.

Saunders is looking to add to his squad but has ended talks with some targets based on their wage demands and attitude.

He said: “At the moment, the market’s a little bit inflated. Some of the money people are asking, it’s not right for us.

“We’ve been in for a couple of players and missed out who I probably could have gone for but I felt the money wasn’t right.

“I’m just shocked at some of the money going about. No disrespect to some players but I just don’t see some of them being worth what they’re getting paid.

“I’ll only pay someone what I feel they’re worth and I don’t feel some of them are worth the figures that are being bandied about.

“I’d rather be patient and get the right ones. You speak to players and before they’ve even asked about the club or what position I want to play them in, the first thing they want to know is ‘how much am I going to get?’ That does put me off.

“As a player, your first thought should be ‘where does the manager see me?’

“When you’re ringing players and they’ve got no interest in meeting, when they want to know what you’re paying before they’ve even met you, they’re not right for what we want. We move on quickly from those ones.

“We’ll keep going and we’ve got a good nucleus. I was looking at the squad we
had last year compared to where we’re at this year and we’re in a much better place now.

“I can take my time and make sure they’re the right ones rather than panicking.”