Sam Dalby intends to wait until the end of the season before deciding where his long-term future lies.
The Dundee United loan star further enhanced his growing reputation on Sunday afternoon with a clinical, instinctive finish in the Terrors’ 3-1 defeat against Rangers.
It was his 11th goal of the season since arriving from Wrexham last summer, sending him clear at the summit of the Premiership scoring charts.
While content with him seeing out the campaign at Tannadice, the ambitious Welsh outfit – bankrolled by Hollywood superstars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIlheny – want to keep the player beyond the summer and have tabled an extended contract.
United boss Jim Goodwin, meanwhile, has made no secret of his desire to tie Dalby to a permanent deal.
Add that to several suitors in Scotland and the EFL monitoring him closely, Dalby will have no shortage of options.
Asked when he will make a call on his next move, Dalby said: “I would say not until the end of the season – once this season has finished.
“We’re in a good position in the league and I just want to focus game by game to help my team and try to stay this high up the table.
“A lot of interest at the end of the season would obviously be good but I’m not really looking at that right now.”
Dalby: I didn’t have a clue!
While cool regarding his fate beyond this summer, Dalby admits to a sense of relief that his immediate future is more certain.
The towering frontman has revealed that he was left in the dark regarding whether Wrexham would recall him from a successful stint in Scotland as they seek to bolster their League One promotion push.
So, the news on Friday that Phil Parkinson would not be utilising that break clause was music to his ears.
“I tried not to think about it (the possibility of a recall), but it’s something that maybe, subconsciously, I have been,” he continued.
“I literally had no idea what was happening. Wrexham didn’t really give me much of a clue.
“So, I’m just happy to be here. United have welcomed me with open arms; the staff, the fans and all the players have been really good to me.
“I know I’m definitely staying here for the rest of the season, and I can focus on every game that we’re going into.”
Cause for optimism
Dalby may have rippled the net after four goalless outings, but the outcome against Rangers was less than satisfying as efforts by Mohamed Diomande, Robin Propper and Cyriel Dessers sealed the points for the visitors.
Nevertheless, Dalby is retaining perspective after a performance in which United hit the post THREE times – albeit Kai Fotheringham was flagged offside for his effort – and forced several good stops from Jack Butland.
And he reckons that display – allied with the fact the Tangerines have already taken points off Celtic and Rangers this term – can only bode well for an eventual top six campaign.
“Rangers have a lot of quality in their team and, although the result was disappointing in the moment, we can definitely take some good things away from what we did on Sunday,” added Dalby.
“We want to get after teams and make them feel uncomfortable. I feel like we did that against Rangers, especially in the first half. And we did it in the second half against Celtic the other week. That’s something that we’ve improved on.
“It gives you plenty of confidence going into the remainder of the season that you can keep doing it, especially when you know that the league splits and it will just be games against the big boys.
“If we can get in there (the top six, post-split), we’re confident of holding our own and getting results like we’ve done a couple of times this season.”
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