Jim Goodwin is confident that Dundee United will get the green light to keep Sam Dalby, Luca Stephenson and Jack Walton at Tannadice for the season.
The high-flying Taysiders are currently sitting in third place and if they continue their current form will book their European return. Norwich City have confirmed that Emmanuel Adegboyega would be staying on-loan at United and now they hope for a similar outcome from the others.
The Tangerines have top scorer Dalby up from Wrexham, Liverpool’s Stephenson and keeper Walton from Luton Town and they all have January recall clauses. Goodwin confirmed: “I’m confident of them all staying, to be honest. We’ve got agreements that these players will stay for the season, but they obviously do have break clauses half-way. “That’s just how contracts are set up.
“But we are having constant dialogue with Liverpool, Luton and Wrexham – and the players mentioned are all loving life at Dundee United, as is (Emmanuel) Adegboyega. I don’t suppose any of them are looking for a change this month. So, I think we’re in a strong position to hold on to all four of those players until the end of the season.”
United have a string of first-team players who are out of contract in the summer. Goodwin has admitted that talks won’t start on that front until after the January window closes and they have a better idea where United will gins in the league.
He said: “I spoke to them all before Christmas and told them we wouldn’t be doing anything during the January window. Once we get the squad to where we think it needs to be after January, then the attention will turn to those players who are out of contract.
“But right now, I just want the players to be focused on the job in hand; to keep pushing and make sure we maintain the high standards and professionalism that we’ve shown, then all of those conversations will take care of themselves going into February.”
United have now turned their attention to the Scottish Cup and Monday night’s derby across the road at Dundee. They are able to park the Premiership for a few days. United are currently clear in third place and Europe is a target but in the short-term the newly-promoted side are looking for the points that will guarantee them another crack at the Premiership next season.
Goodwin said: “That has to be the long-term target, now – but we are very aware that there is so much football still to be played before the split. It’s clearly unlikely, given the points returns at this stage, that we’ll end up in the bottom two, but you can never take anything for granted.
“I keep talking about Aberdeen, and it’s not to stick the knife in; but you need to look at what can happen if you do let your standards drop, take your eye off the ball or have injuries to key players. It can be a strange game sometimes. It’s important that we keep everything in perspective.
“They players have been remarkable, but we haven’t achieved anything yet and the message I’m drumming home is, “it’s been a great first half of the season, now can we finish it off strongly?”
“There’s a real feel-good factor about the whole club – everybody is bouncing into work at the moment, and we want to hold onto that good feeling.
“On average in the last 10 years, it’s been around 43 points to get into the top six, albeit Dundee got in with 39, so we know the targets we want to reach to ensure the season has been a good one.”