Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Caley Thistle want Utd hitman Murray
DUNDEE United striker Simon Murray is a wanted man.
And leading the chase for the Dundonian are Premiership strugglers Inverness Caley Thistle.
It’s also emerged the Tangerines have turned down a £40,000 bid for the 24-year-old from Moldovans Sheriff Tiraspol.
Murray has hit 11 goals in 28 appearances this season and, if you add a strong finish to last term, those goal stats jump to 16 in his last 33 games for United.
Those strikes included a double against Inverness in a 3-2 win at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium in May, a game that landed United in hot water for listing ineligible subs.
His goals-to-games ratio has not gone unnoticed and with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, t he Tele understands Inverness have opened talks with his representatives.
They are willing to offer him a pre-contract agreement for next year, while Tiraspol want him now.
There also has to be a chance the Highland outfit could make moves to persuade United to part with Murray before the transfer window closes next week.
They desperately need to add goals to their team as they struggle to get off the bottom of the Premiership.
And they’ve already added Murray’s former Tannadice teammate Henri Anier to their squad in this window.
If more offers are forthcoming it will leave United with a big dilemma, particularly if the player was to indicate a desire to move on in the summer.
That would mean either cashing in on him now and losing his goal threat, or risk seeing him leaving for nothing when he becomes a free agent.
Murray was signed up by then-United boss Jackie McNamara in a £50,000 deal from Arbroath in the January transfer window two years ago.
He was immediately loaned back to the Red Lichties for the rest of that season but did train with the United first-team squad during the week.
He made his debut when he came off the bench against Aberdeen in the first competitive game of last season.
And Murray got his first United goal when he grabbed a dramatic injury-time winner at Motherwell the following weekend.
After McNamara was sacked, he dropped out of the team for a while but returned to finish the season strongly.