Ross County co-manager Steven Ferguson reckons the Staggies could face a challenge to keep hold of winger Josh Mullin should he continue his recent form.
Mullin has impressed since joining County from Livingston on a two-year deal in the summer, with the midfielder’s tally of seven goals already three more than he netted during the Lions’ promotion to the Premiership last term.
The Staggies have seen a number of players leave to join English clubs after enjoying success with the Staggies in recent years, most recently Jackson Irvine, Liam Boyce and Jason Naismith.
Ferguson has been impressed with Mullin and sees no reason why the 26-year-old cannot follow suit, but hopes the Staggies can reap the benefits of his form for some time yet.
Ferguson said: “Josh is under contract at this football club beyond this season anyway, but anybody who is playing the way he is and scoring the goals he is scoring obviously attracts attention.
“We don’t hide behind that. When players come to this football club, we’re very much of the opinion that if you do very well for us and somebody wants to come and take you, that’s absolutely fine.
“We’ll have benefitted from their good play. That would be a good problem to have, not that I’m talking up moving Josh on.
“It goes for any of our players. We have a decent reputation now at the football club for guys coming up here and doing well, then getting so-called bigger moves.
“We’ve had three recently who have gone down south. If players have aspirations to do that, Ross County is a good place to be.
“Josh is keeping his side of the bargain by performing how he is performing, but Josh will tell you he would much rather be involved in a winning Ross County team at the moment.”
Mullin’s fellow winger Michael Gardyne made his comeback as a substitute in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Queen of the South, ending an absence of more than two months due to a broken foot.
Ferguson was thrilled to see Gardyne return to action and hopes the 32-year-old will soon be joined by midfielder Iain Vigurs, who has returned to training having also been sidelined with a foot injury.
Ferguson added: “That’s 10 Saturdays since Michael was last on the pitch. For us to get such an influential player back for a really important month is great.
“We just need to make sure Michael is good to go. He got 20 minutes on Saturday. Hopefully we’ll get Michael back in the team.
“Iain Vigurs joins back in with the group. He is the one who could potentially come into contention this week, but he’s not played for four or five weeks. We’ll see how Iain trains.”
