Dundee United are doing all they can to make Pavol Safranko’s stay at Tannadice permanent.
It could, though, take a six-figure fee to persuade parent club Aalborg to part with him.
The striker has netted 13 times in 33 appearances for the Tangerines since joining on loan from the Danish Superliga outfit in August.
His robust style of play and habit of grabbing spectacular goals has made him a firm favourite with Arabs.
And his form at United also earned him his first competitive caps for his native Slovakia.
The downside of those appearances is others are now well aware of his form and, if Aalborg do decide to move him on in the summer, there are sure to be other interested parties.
He has another year of his contract with them to go and it is not yet clear what they plan to do with him.
If they are willing to let him go, however, United would be interested in trying to keep him at Tannadice.
Robbie confirmed that today, saying: “It’s something we are trying to do, something we are working on in the background.
“He’s on loan, he’s an Aalborg player and they paid a lot of money for him so it’s something we need to negotiate and see where we can get with it.
“It’s something we’d like to do but the ball is not in our court at the moment. It’s up to them.”
While the battle to get back to the Premiership is boss Robbie Neilson’s main focus right now, he’s already been putting plans in place for next season.
In the last fortnight he’s fixed up another loan star, Aberdeen’s Mark Reynolds, on a three-year deal and Safranko’s fellow-attacker Paul McMullan has also signed a new contract.
Like the Slovakian, McMullan was on the scoresheet as United beat Ayr United on Friday night.His manager continues to be delighted with the 23-year-old’s progress.
“He’s got attributes very few people in Scotland have got,” said Robbie.
“When he’s got the ball and he’s running at you one-on-one, it’s hard to stop him. We’ve seen him do that a few times. His goal on Friday was a great strike.
United have now confirmed Ayr full-back Liam Smith will be joining them next season. Smith played for Robbie during a spell at Hearts.
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