THOMAS O’Ware is the latest Morton player to agree terms on a new one-year contract for next season, the Tele can exclusively reveal.

Ton boss Jim Duffy has spoken with four of the five out-of-contract players from last year’s squad who were offered extensions.

Of that group, goalkeeper Derek Gaston was the first to commit himself to the club for the 2014/15 League One campaign Dougie Imrie and Archie Campbell are yet to make a decision on their futures, while Duffy has not yet managed to speak with Scott Taggart.

However, he has confirmed that defender O’Ware, 21, will be returning to Cappielow after accepting the offer made to him.

Duffy told the Tele: “Thomas O’Ware has come back to me and he will be signing with us again for next season. That will be for a year.

“I’m pleased to get Thomas and Derek Gaston signed. There’s an element of continuity about it because you would like to have the nucleus of a side.

“Unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen. The logistics of it are that we don’t have enough players carrying on from last season to make that a reality. That’s just the way it goes.” Duffy now has six of last season’s squad signed up with Gaston and O’Ware added to a list that already included Fouad Bachirou, Nicolas Caraux, Reece Hands, and Joe McKee.

He admits that although he has seen most of them in action, he isn’t overly familiar with them and everyone will go into the new season with a clean slate.

He added: “I don’t know too much about any of the players. I’ve seen Morton playing, but to make a proper judgment on players you have to see them over a concerted period of time.

“You also need to see them in a number of different types of games. You need to see them in games when they’re playing well and games when they’re not playing so well to see how they deal with it.

“So obviously I don’t know all the ins and outs of their character. I might have seen someone play in a game and thought: ‘He looks quite good.’ But there are different personalities.

“Also, I probably play a different way from how they did last season. Can they adapt to the style I want to play? That will be important.

“So it’s not just all about whether somebody’s a good player or not; it’s about them fitting into what you’re trying to do and buying into your interpretation of things.

“In terms of Thomas, I think I’ve only seen Morton once when he played. But that doesn’t do him any harm, because he isn’t carrying the baggage of someone pre-judging him.

“Basically he and the other players will have the chance to start from scratch and compete for a place with the players who have signed and the ones we will sign over the next few weeks.” Meanwhile, skipper Imrie and striker Campbell are still mulling over their offers while Taggart is on holiday in Spain.

For now, Duffy is happy to remain patient and give the trio some time to consider their futures before eventually setting a deadline if needs be.

He explained: “So far, the other players haven’t made a decision. I’ve spoken to Dougie and Archie. The only one I’ve not spoken to is Scott Taggart because he’s on holiday.

“There will come a cut-off time but at this moment we’ll allow them to think about it and see how it goes with the guys.

“If we think that they’re good enough players then we’re keen to have them, and if they need a wee bit of extra time to think about it, then we’ll respect that and give them it.”