John Nelms insists the money has to be “compelling” for Dundee to let star man Luke McCowan leave Dens Park.
The 26-year-old has been subject of intense speculation over his future with a number of bids from Hibs – Dundee’s opponents on Saturday – turned down.
Celtic and Bolton Wanderers have also been credited with interest in the former Ayr United man.
The latest bid from Hibs was reported to be around £750,000.
That obviously wasn’t compelling enough to accept, however.
“Luke is a credit to himself, Luke is our captain and is handling all the attention really, really well,” Nelms told The Warm-Up podcast from SPFL sponsors William Hill.
“He says ‘I am a Dundee player, I am the captain and I have a responsibility, this is what I do’.
“He’s been a credit to himself.
“You are absolutely right, the money has to be compelling. We’re not selling players to keep the lights on or anything else.
“We’re investing in the organisation, fans are investing in the organisation, so we have to be very careful how and why we do it.
“It’s can’t just be oh a couple hundred grand here, couple hundred grand there. It’s got to be the right time, what do their families want, a multitude of questions.
“It does look to the fan base that it’s quite black and white – it’s anything but.”
‘Life-changing money’
Nelms admits, however, that when the money is right Dundee are a selling club.
Since taking over as managing director Nelms sanctioned big moves for the likes of Jack Hendry and Greg Stewart.
The task is to then find the next star who could impress on the pitch and then move on for profit.
Nelms added: “We are going to be selling players if somebody comes in.
“For Luke it can be life-changing money for him and we have to be aware of that.
“So when he goes we’d have to make sure we have people in place to pick up that slack and create the next Luke McCowan.”
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