Jim Goodwin tells 6 Dundee Utd stars with contracts expiring what they must do to earn new deals

The Tangerines have almost an entire team of players whose contracts end next summer

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin has urged the men heading into the final few months of their Tannadice deals to prove they deserve fresh terms.

The Tangerines have almost an entire team of players whose contracts end next summer. Kai Fotheringham, Glenn Middleton, Declan Gallagher, Kevin Holt, Ross Docherty and Louis Moult are all up at the end of the season. Loan stars Jack Walton, Luca Stephenson, Sam Dalby and Emmanuel Adegboyega are also due to return to their parent clubs.

Goodwin himself is in the same boat with his own agreement with chairman Mark Ogren set to expire in May. But the Irishman knows the best way for himself and his players to win new deals is to build on an encouraging start that has seen the Premiership new boys climb to fifth place. He said: “We have got a number of guys who are entering into the last eight or nine months of their contracts, myself included.

“These are things that will take care of themselves depending on how the results go and how we are sitting in the table. Performances up to now have been very good.

“January tends to be the time where we would sit down and have those conversations. By then, we have a clearer indication of where we are in the league and then we can have the discussions with the players that entails.”