When it comes to transfer talk at Tannadice, Gary Mackay-Steven’s name has tended to arise more often than not in recent years.
Which is precisely why the United winger is perfectly happy to see some of the club’s younger stars steal the limelight for a change.
First Ryan Gauld was being tracked by Real Madrid, then it emerged John Souttar was the subject of a bid from Sunderland and now left-back Andy Robertson is being linked with a move to Liverpool.
While clubs will be monitoring Mackay-Steven’s progress this season, the 23-year-old is delighted he has been able to focus on football.
“It’s nice not to have the speculation every day and people asking me what’s happening,” he admitted.
“So I’m sure the boys will be the same and they’ll get people asking them what’s happening all the time and it will be annoying them a bit.
“But it’s great for them it’s no wonder teams are looking at the different boys, like Gauldy, John Souttar and Andy Robertson.
“They’ve all had a great start to the season and they are so young they’ve got a lot to look forward to. I haven’t given them any advice but they are so level headed, they know themselves how to handle things.”
Mackay-Steven has been in at training with United as usual this week, although there will be a part of him wishing he could link up with the Scotland squad ahead of next week’s game against Croatia.
The winger was named in Gordon Strachan’s squad to face Wales and Serbia in the World Cup qualifiers and then again for the friendly against England at Wembley. However, he is yet to win his first senior cap and found himself overlooked by Strachan when the squad for the Croatia fixture was announced last week.
As Mackay-Steven told Courier Sport though, that disappointment has only served to spur him on.
“It’s just a case of working hard and trying to get back into the squad,” he said.
“I’m highly motivated to do that and I just need to try and stay fit and start producing the performances on the park. I’m confident I can do that in the future.”
Without the distraction of Scotland, he is concentrating on helping United climb the table and is slowly coming back into contention for a regular starting slot.
A groin injury suffered against Ross County meant he missed two games last month and he has been forced to settle for a place on the bench against Hearts and Kilmarnock.
However, he hopes to force his way back into boss Jackie McNamara’s plans by proving his fitness this week and next.
“I’ve had little niggles with injury, nothing serious but little things that hamper you a wee bit and make you miss games here and there,” he said.
“I feel fit now and we’ve got wee break now, so I’ll work on my fitness a little bit more, so hopefully I’ll be flying for the Aberdeen game (on October 19).”
Indeed, Mackay-Steven was praised for his cameo appearance in the 1-0 win over Killie at the weekend by McNamara and believes things are coming together nicely for United.
“It was a great result for us and it could have been more handsome in the end,” he concluded.
“We created a lot of chances, but any victory is good, especially at home for the fans. It was nice to get on and it’s just a case of working my way back to fitness.
“I feel good now and hopefully I’ll be ready to go for the next game. Confidence is really high in the camp after Saturday, but to be fair we’re always really quite confident in ourselves all the time.
“Recently we’ve been picking up good results and we’ve been creating a lot of chances. We’ve got a lot of attacking options and the defence has been good as well, so it bodes well for the future.
“It’s quite tight still and even down to ninth and Ross County, they are not too far away from the top half. But the only way we’re looking is up and hopefully we can go to Aberdeen, get a good result and climb above them.”