Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara may have decided not to extend David Goodwillie’s loan deal, but the manager insists he would like nothing better than to see the striker back to his best and playing for Scotland once again.
The 2010 Scottish Cup-winning hero never really hit the heights during his second spell at Tannadice with his first-team chances limited due to the emergence of Nadir Ciftci and Brian Graham.
Goodwillie is now back with his parent club Blackburn Rovers and has been linked with another loan move with St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Oldham all interested in the marksman.
McNamara admits that no matter where the striker ends up, he wishes him every success as long as he isn’t facing United.
The manager said: “It didn’t work out for David or for us. We went on a good run and he found it hard to get into the team.
“Goodie is a good lad so I hope he can resurrect his career and get playing somewhere, scoring goals.
“He goes with our best wishes. I would have liked it to have worked out for him here but other lads came in after the start we had and after that, he found it difficult to get into the side.
“He’s been limited to playing 20 minutes here and there because of the form of other people. He dropped out at a time when we were scoring a lot of goals.
“I got on well with him and I got close to him.
“People have a perception of him but he’s a quiet lad. I really do hope he can kick on elsewhere and get his career back on track.
“I’ll be delighted if he’s scoring goals for someone else and playing well. If he comes back to Scotland, as long as it’s not against us then I’ll be happy for him.
“I want him to get his career back on track and into the national team again.”
When asked if the way Goodwillie’s career has panned out after leaving Tannadice two years ago was a warning to the current crop of talented United youngsters that the grass is not always greener elsewhere, McNamara replied: “I don’t think it’s a warning to other players, everyone is different.
“He’d had four managers in two years at Blackburn so there has been no continuity for him there. It’s hard to get back to the way things were before when the manager is changing a lot.
“He came here with a lot of pressure on him both on and off the park. It’s down to him now, he needs to kick-start things again and I hope he can do that.
“He’s still young enough, he’s only 24 and it will take a wee while to get back to where he was with his confidence. But coming here there was a lot of expectation on him because of what he did before he left.
“So the pressure was there and a lot of it was down to the fact we were going well and that limited his opportunities.”
The ending of Goodwillie’s loan deal has come at the worst possible time for the United with two other strikers currently struggling with injury.
Former Raith front man Graham had to be stretchered off on Sunday in Inverness after damaging ankle ligaments while Ciftci is struggling with a groin problem.
McNamara did bring another striker in last week in the shape of Farid El Alagui on loan from Brentford with the Frenchman making his debut against ICT from the bench.
However, the manager admitted he may have to strengthen in the forward department again.
He said: “Brian will be out for three or four weeks with his ankle ligaments. Hopefully we’ll be able to get him back sooner than that but we’ll just have to wait and see.
“It’s a shame for Brian because he’s been getting a run of games in the team but there’s nothing you can do about that kind of injury.
“It’s just as well we brought Farid in when we did. He did well when he came on against Inverness and will be a good player for us.
“Nadir is working with the physio at the moment so we’ll see how he comes along. I don’t think he’s too far away from being ready to play.
“We’re a bit short of numbers so I’ll have to look at it. I was looking at other areas but we’ll have to see what happens with Nadir, I don’t think his groin is as bad as we first thought.”
Even if he ultimately does decide to bring more players in during the window, McNamara who also confirmed that former United star Garry Kenneth has been given access to training facilities at the club is determined to take his time before deciding on potential targets.
He said: “I don’t want to rush into things, we did that when I came in last year. There’s no point bringing someone in for the sake of it, it has to be the right person.
“Garry Kenneth has been using our facilities to get fit and has been training with us. He’s playing in a bounce game for us so I’ll watch that one.”
McNamara confirmed that two current players at United are edging closer to tying their futures to the club.
He said: “We’re just about there with Mark Wilson and his contract and we’re also speaking to John Rankin.
“He’s due to meet the club soon. Things are ongoing but we’re hoping to get them both concluded.”