JASON Jarrett could be the player sacrificied to save crisis club Bury as Wigan Athletic prepare to table an offer.

Shakers co-chairman Fred Mason has admitted the club will almost certainly need to sell a player to meet their deadline on April 26, when they must hand over £400,000 or go into liquidation.

Rumours have been rife that the cash would be raised by selling striker Jon Newby to Brighton, who could soon be looking for a replacement for the seemingly Premiership-bound Bobby Zamora.

But now Jarrett looks the most likely to leave before next Thursday's transfer deadline, less than two years since he joined his hometown club from Wrexham.

"There have been plenty of rumours but the only one I know anything about is the Wigan one," said Shakers manager Andy Preece. "They have been watching Jason and we will just have to see what develops from that. We are aware of their interest but no bids have been made yet.

"I know nothing about the Brighton rumour. I spoke to Peter Taylor after the game on Saturday and he said nothing to me. We get on quite well so I'm sure he would have asked me about Jon if he was interested."

The 2-1 defeat at Brighton dropped Bury into the relegation zone and Preece admitted he was resigned to losing one of his squad to help the club's off-field survival.

But he said certain players would be made off-limits or the club would stand no chance of surviving the drop.

"It doesn't help things because it's a critical time for us," he said. "We haven't got the money to bring players in, so losing a player for the last few games of the season would be really hard.

"Obviously the right offer has to come in for the right player. Some players won't be let go because we don't want to cut our own throats.

"If we aren't careful, the money we will lose from getting relegated will be more than we earn from selling a key player."

With no cash to buy in new players, another option open to Bury would be the loan market.

But Preece said a loan from the Professional Footballers' Association, taken out to help save Shakers from their financial woes, could stand in his way.

"Once you have borrowed money from the PFA, you can be placed under an embargo. It is something we are looking into and if we are forced to sell a player then that obviously strengthens our case.."