Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara has stressed he would like to keep Gary Mackay-Steven despite interest being shown in the Scotland international at the opening of the transfer window.
The Tangerines have received a verbal offer lower than £150,000 for Mackay-Steven from an English lower league side but knocked it back.
That isn’t enough to persuade them to cash in on a player who is out of contract in the summer and who has expressed a desire to eventually play south of the border.
Mackay-Steven, who scored United’s opener in their 2-2 draw against Partick Thistle at Firhill on Sunday and was the provider for Nadir Ciftci’s equaliser, is free to speak to potential new employers now and it does seem like just a matter of time before he leaves.
However, manager McNamara understandably so given the player’s current form wants to hang on to him for as long as possible.
“I would like to keep him here,” said McNamara, after a match that saw Ciftci rescue a point after Ryan Stevenson and Kris Doolan had edged the Jags ahead.
“You could see how important he was for us at both goals today. Not just that, he got in behind Partick and had a real appetite to get at them and move about.
“I want to keep what we’ve got and make them better. Indeed, I would like to add one or two not lose anybody.”
However, there is realism among the management team as regards Mackay-Steven, given the player’s public stance that he will be leaving at the end of the season at the very latest.
“We knew last summer that he could be walking away for nothing,” said McNamara. “People talk about us selling players on but we are conscious with GMS that he was going to walk away for nothing.
“Everyone talks about the younger ones we have sold because we have had to but (with) GMS we have prepared ourselves for losing him for nothing in the summer.
“If nothing else happens in this window then that will be outwith my hands.
“For me, we have to weigh up what is best in terms of the financial side of a bid or what he could bring by helping us get to a cup final or up the league.
“It has to be right for the club first and foremost.”