ADELAIDE chief executive Andrew Fagan says the Crows will be proactive in their quest to secure a trade for wantaway forward Mitch McGovern, but are open to him remaining at the club if the right deal can't be struck.

Fagan also said the Crows want to retain out-of-contract midfielder Cam Ellis-Yolmen after a solid season in his comeback from a torn ACL.

McGovern wants to leave the Crows despite only being one year into a three-year contract signed in August, 2017.

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The 23-year-old has kicked 67 goals in his 48 games, but has struggled this season with an ankle injury and form.

Carlton has been linked with McGovern, who would command a high draft pick the Crows could use in a draft brimming with South Australian talent.

Fagan said the situation was similar to that of midfielder Bryce Gibbs, who was contracted with the Blues when he had a trade request to the Crows knocked back in the 2016 trade period, only for the deal to get done the following year.

"The duty we've now got is to do the best possible thing we can for the football club to explore whether we can look at this year's draft and bring in someone, or a group of people, who can make us better," Fagan told Triple M Adelaide on Thursday.

"If this can assist us in doing so, then we will, but if we can't, Mitch understands he's still got two years left on a contract so it might be something that gets parked for a while.

"We saw that in reverse probably with the Bryce Gibbs trade the first time around.

"We're open-minded to it and we'll engage proactively with Mitch and his manager."

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Ellis-Yolmen's future at the Crows is also uncertain as he remains without a new deal for next year.

The 25-year-old was delisted at the end of last season having missed the entire 2017 campaign with a torn ACL.

Ellis-Yolmen was thrown a lifeline on the rookie list, averaging 20.1 disposals and 5.5 tackles in 15 games and impressing with his contested work.

"We've still got to work on the finalisation of our list and we've re-signed 13 or 14 guys this year," Fagan said.

"It always gets pretty tough on the back end, but he's had a solid year.

"He's someone we'd like to keep around, but we've got to go through a few more processes yet to see if there's a deal that can be done."

The Crows have five guaranteed list changes for next season.

Sam Gibson and Curtly Hampton have retired, while Harry Dear and rookie-list father-son selections Ben Jarman and Jackson Edwards have been delisted.

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