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Holloway braced for loss of Adam

Charlie Adam has been a dominant force for Blackpool © PA Photos

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Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has claimed it will be "impossible" for the club to retain Charlie Adam beyond the summer.

The Seasiders breathed a collective sigh of relief at 11pm on Monday, as the transfer window slammed shut without a deal being struck to take Adam away from the club. Liverpool and Tottenham failed with bids on deadline day, much to Adam's chagrin as he was keen on heading for a bigger pond.

Despite his frustration, Adam came out on Tuesday to state his commitment to Blackpool would be unwavering and that is a claim Holloway will hold his captain to.

"Charlie's been fantastic for us and he can feel however he feels, but he is still professional," Holloway said. "He has to deal with the fact he has at least another 15 games to get us at least another four wins and then wait and see what happens in the summer.

"I would love him to go to a club he wants to when the time is right. I have no doubts he will get where he wants to be eventually, but I didn't understand the timing or his impatience.

"I believe he is getting better all the time and without a shadow of a doubt in the summer it will be impossible to hang on to him. But for now everything can go back to being about the football because we've an awful lot of work to do, we've got to improve."

Adam has 18 months to run on his present commitment and it is that contract that strengthened chairman Karl Oyston's hand at the negotiating table.

"Charlie told me why he put in a transfer request but that's private and personal, although I can't say I can argue with him," Holloway said. "But the whole fact of it is the length of contact he has with the club determines that the chairman can say and do what he likes and Charlie has no choice.

"It is a shame for him he has the length of contract he has, but it gave him security and he and his agent decided to sign it. Who would have thought in the course of time we would be in the Premier League with Liverpool wanting to buy him?

"But they would have had to have given us a lot more money before my chairman would have even dreamed of risking the £46 million that he believes his family and the football club will get by keeping Charlie.

"So Charlie didn't have a choice unless Liverpool offered something the chairman would have accepted."

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