Dundee United leading race to sign Queens’ Park midfielder Blair Spittal

Dundee United have nipped ahead of Dundee in the race for Queen’s Park midfielder Blair Spittal after entering into negotiations with the League Two club over compensation.

The Tannadice side are keen to build on the success of bringing Andy Robertson from the Spiders last summer, with Spittal’s former team-mate in the Scotland side that faced Nigeria less than a year after leaving Hampden.

Robertson’s transfer was marred by a row over compensation, however there has been no issues over the move for 18-year-old Spittal who has been on manager Jackie McNamara’s radar for most of the last year.

Dens boss Paul Hartley is also a long-time admirer of Spittal and was keen to take him to the Dark Blues but looks set to miss out.

Spittal has also attracted interest from Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock, Rotherham, Coventry City and West Brom in the 18 months since he made his debut.

He is believed to favour a move to United after seeing how Robertson’s career has grown from amateur to international in the space of 12 months.