GENERAL manager of football operations Josh Mahoney says the club remains on target to gain the outcomes it wants this trade period.

Melbourne has been strongly linked with several players – most noticeably Essendon’s Jake Melksham and Greater Western Sydney’s Tom Bugg – but the club has not yet been involved in an official deal, since the trade period started on Monday.

Mahoney said some deals involving other clubs were holding up the Dees at the moment.  

“Although it’s been a quiet few days, we’re still confident that we’ll achieve what we set out to achieve at the start of the trade period, which was to bring in some players with AFL experience between the ages of 21 and 24 and improve our draft position,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“At the moment, we are being held up by some clubs that we’re dealing with, as they’ve been tied up with other deals.”

Mahoney said the future of involving high-flying Demon Jeremy Howe was still yet to be known. But he made it clear that the club had started negotiations with Gold Coast Suns.

“Jeremy’s still on holidays at the moment and he returns later this week,” he said.

“When a player starts talking to other clubs, it’s in our best interests to speak to those clubs to negotiate what a potential deal may look like.

“We have gone down that path with Gold Coast Suns, after Jeremy had met with them. Right now that is the best trade option for us as a club, if Jeremy was to decide [to leave].

“We’ve had no other club approach us about a potential trade for Jeremy at this stage.

“We also have not received any indication from Jeremy’s management on other interested clubs.”