Chester will only offload Kingsley James and Ross Hannah if it is the ‘right deal’ for the club, insists Anthony Johnson.

James, 26, and Hannah, 32, have both been transfer listed, with Chester keen to get the duo off their wage bill with another year left to run on their current contracts.

However, the future of the pair – both re-signed by the club for a second time last summer by then manager Jon McCarthy – remains up in the air, after Johnson revealed two clubs had made an approach for James, but neither offer came close to being acceptable.

Moving James and Hannah on remains a priority for the Blues, despite yesterday’s news that entrepreneur Stuart Murphy is to sink £1million into the club over the next three years. Johnson and Bernard Morley's playing budget remains largely unaltered as it stands, although funds could be made available by Murphy in due course.

“There’s been interest in Kingsley James, we’ve had conversations with a couple of clubs,” joint-boss Johnson said.

“The amount of wages they are offering just isn’t enough for us to want to do anything.

“We don’t want a shortfall. There’s no point in paying a fair chunk of the players’ wages if they are on-loan at another club.

“They are both good players. Regardless of the fact they were part of a team that got relegated last season, that doesn’t make them bad footballers overnight.

“The main thing is it’s the right deal for the football club, but it’s a difficult (situation).”

Johnson admits he and Morley would look to bring in an additional ‘six or seven players’ if able to get James and Hannah off the wage bill but praised both senior players for their conduct in the weeks since the former Salford City pair were appointed Blues co-managers.

“It’s no secret the club is looking to move Kingsley and Ross on,” added Johnson, who expects both James and Hannah to report for pre-season training on Monday night.

“The club have made that clear before we even arrived here, and we understand the club’s predicament.

“The big thing for us is that with the budget we’ve got, their wages are taking up quite a bit of that budget. Going part-time, we could look to sign six or seven players for that sort of money.

“But what I can say is that’s no fault of either player, they signed those contracts last summer, and both players have been a credit to themselves for the way they have dealt with the situation so far, and the way they’ve been with myself and Bernard. Nothing but professional as we'd expect."