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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Goodwillie to sign for Blackburn

By Jim Spence
BBC Scotland

Montage - David Goodwillie in SPL action

David Goodwillie will sign for Blackburn on Wednesday after Dundee United rejected repeated last-ditch bids from Rangers for the striker.

The 22-year-old is due to undergo a scan, the second stage of his medical at Ewood Park.

Rangers manager Ally McCoist claimed on Tuesday that the Scottish champions had matched Blackburn's £2.8m offer.

But United insisted that, although closer to Rovers' figure, it had still fallen short of their demands.

Tannadice chairman Stephen Thompson told BBC Scotland: "Rangers' bid was not acceptable and the overall deal was not as much as was on offer from Blackburn."

Blackburn were given permission to talk to Goodwillie at the weekend after having their bid accepted by Thompson.

The English top-flight outfit had offered the £2m asking price up front, plus £800,000 potential add-ons and a sell-on clause.

However, the player's planned medical was postponed on Monday and Rangers increased their offer having had a fourth bid rejected 24 hours earlier.

Asked if it matched Blackburn's bid for the Scotland international, McCoist said: "As for as I'm aware, yes.

"We believe that we have put a bid in that's more than acceptable."

"We've all made no secret of the fact that David is a player we would love to see at Rangers."

Rangers' hopes had been heightened when the Blackburn deal hit a snag on Saturday evening, with Goodwillie's right to 10% of any transfer fee understood to be part of the hold up.

However, United agreed to pay that up front following talks between Thompson and Goodwillie's agent, Liam O'Donnell.

  • Made Dundee United debut in 2005 at the age of 16
  • Scored first goal for the club shortly before 17th birthday
  • Finished season 2010/11 with 19 goals
  • Made Scotland debut against Faroe Islands in March

Goodwillie, who was named on Tuesday in Craig Levein's Scotland squad to face Denmark next week, was omitted from United's squad to face Hearts on Sunday as he and his agent talked to Rovers.

United manager Peter Houston said on Sunday that he had no problem if Goodwillie joined Scottish Premier League rivals Rangers but reiterated his opinion that the player would be better to move to England.

"I love Glasgow and live there, but I felt there is always someone bigger than him out there who would take it into their own hands to harm as he has a reputation for being able to handle himself," said Houston.

Ten clubs, including Blackpool, had expressed an interest in Goodwillie after a rape charge was dropped against the product of United's youth system.

The transfer will mean he Houston can progress his own plans to strengthen a squad depleted by several summer departures.

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