Dundee manager Neil McCann has admitted he is relieved to still have Steven Caulker in his squad after reports that Leeds United were interested in signing up the ex-Liverpool centre-back.
According to the Mirror in their live transfer blog on Wednesday 8 August (08:48am), both Leeds and Rangers were lining up deadline day bids for the 6ft 3 (transfermarkt) colossus.
However McCann has now confirmed that no offers were made for Caulker, but he did admit that he was expecting to lose the the 26-year-old after a strong start to his career at Dens Park.
“There have been no official bids put on the table yet for Steven,” McCann said, as quoted by the Evening Telegraph. “Clearly he is a player that attracts a lot of interest.
“The good thing is, I thought he would probably go and we would lose him, but we still have him.
“We need to be thankful for the squad we have just now, because we could have lost a few players to down south.”
OPINION
It is some admission by McCann to say that he was expecting to see Caulker transfer away from Dundee this summer, but of course, there is still a chance of that happening if Leeds want to sign him on loan. The Mirror also reported that Rangers were interested in signing the defender, and the transfer window in Scotland is still open until the end of the month, so McCann shouldn’t rest of his laurels just yet. Caulker has been brilliant since signing for Dundee in February. He has had a really tough time in the last couple of years, but Scotland has been good to him and looks to have revived his career. The former Tottenham and Southampton centre-back has made 16 appearances across all competitions for Dundee, a team that pulled off a real coup to sign him on a free transfer earlier this year. They could really benefit by selling Caulker for a fee and both Leeds and Rangers could do with the extra body in their defence.