KARL Robinson has his doubts about the chances of Joe Rothwell and Ricardinho accepting their contract offers at Oxford United.

The pair’s existing deals expire at the end of June and new terms were offered last month, but little progress has been made.

United rejected a bid for Rothwell from Blackburn Rovers on deadline day in January and the midfielder has been linked with a summer move to Ewood Park in the past week.

Robinson appears resigned to losing Rothwell, who has made 86 appearances for the U’s since signing from Manchester United in 2016, scoring eight goals.

“We don’t think it will be a surprise if he moves on,” the United manager said.

“I think he’ll end up back up north.

“We’ve just got to wait and see.”

Should Rothwell leave, United would receive compensation because he is aged under 24 and has been offered new terms.

If the clubs cannot agree on a fee, it would be referred to a transfer tribunal.

It happened with Curtis Nelson’s move from Plymouth Argyle in 2016, which saw United forced to pay an initial £200,000 fee, rising to £280,000.

Losing Rothwell would be a blow, particularly in the wake of Ryan Ledson’s move to Preston North End last month.

But Robinson, who was not aware of any other offers for his key players, is optimistic it would be the final high-profile departure of the summer.

He said: “I think we have done enough, we’ve told players we want to keep them.

“We’ve offered new contracts and we’re very happy with where we’re at.

“Even though it looks from the outside that nothing’s really moving, I can honestly say a lot is happening.

“A lot of people are working very hard.”

Ricardinho’s situation is less clear.

Robinson did not start the Brazilian in the final three games of last season to avoid triggering a 12-month extension on improved terms.

A fresh contract was tabled instead, but the Oxford Mail understands there had been no contact with the 33-year-old’s representatives until this week.

Meanwhile, Robinson is relaxed about the pace of progress with the club’s recruitment, with negotiations well advanced with several tar- gets.

He said: “We’ll wait and see what materialises, but I’d reassure everybody that I’m very confident that our staff and our internal recruitment team have done a wonderful job.

“I’m very happy with the quality of the players we’re speaking to.

“We’ve got one or two deals done we think with a few clubs. We’re just waiting for them to say yea or nay really.”