Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin has explained the club’s reasoning behind placing young star Noah Stewart on the transfer list and reaffirmed his intention to build a squad of players that are committed to helping drive the Premiership side forward.

Stewart joined the Sky Blues from Linfield last summer and went on to score nine goals in his maiden league campaign, netting two braces against Coleraine before a further double in an important victory over Newry City which ultimately helped preserve Ballymena’s top-flight status.

The 20-year-old also started in both legs of their promotion/relegation play-off success versus Institute, but it now looks like his days at the Showgrounds are numbered after the County Antrim outfit confirmed on Tuesday that he’d been made available for transfer – just hours before he scored twice in Ballymena’s 3-1 pre-season victory over Annagh United.

Stewart signed a two-year professional contract in October and Ervin revealed a fresh two-year deal had been offered, but the ex-Crusaders youngster turned it down as he harbours ambitions of making it across the water.

placeholder image — Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin. PIC: Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

"The Noah one is probably a wee bit frustrating,” Ervin told the club’s media channel. “Noah himself is a great kid and he has aspirations to try and get full-time football across the water.

"We've offered him a two-year deal and he has turned it down because he wants to go to England. There's a lot to be praised about Noah for having that mindset and fair play to him, but I just think the people representing him have went the wrong way about it and backed us into a corner really.

"When I was a player at this football club there were a lot of quality players that ran their contracts down and moved on for free and it comes back to hurt the football club.

"When I came in I said I wasn't prepared to do that - we wanted to keep our best players and young talent in Ballymena, and we've tried to do that. He has decided otherwise and that's nothing against Noah...he has been decent around the place and as long as he continues to give 100% there'll be no issues.

"Long-term for me, I want to build a team of players that want to play for Ballymena United, want to be here and want to commit their future to here. That's basically where we came to the decision to make Noah available to other clubs because he has made it clear he doesn't want to sign a new contract here.

"I feel the best thing for me, the team I'm trying to build and Ballymena is we have players here who are committed to playing for Ballymena."