The great McGold rush

Last updated : 03 July 2004 By Richard Brown

Will McGoldrick ever grace the hallowed turf again?
McGoldrick, who started a game at just 16-years of age - becoming the second youngest player ever to turn out for County, is reported to be on trial with Premiership clubs, Blackburn Rovers and Everton after refusing professional terms at Meadow Lane. However, Steve Thompson has today branded a hefty £500,000 price tag - one which you could quite see being shifted to suit the fragile transfer market.

McGoldrick will thus be training at both Goodison and Ewood Park during the close season, as opposed to joining the rest of the Magpies squad for pre-season training, in hope of securing a contract with a top-flight club.

And Thompson is confident of the club could recieving a healthy sum of compensation for McGoldrick, considered by many as the next-best thing since Jermaine Pennant left Notts for Arsenal, as the club would structure a compensation package based upon Leon Best, another highly rated youngster who left under similiar, although not identical, circumstances.

"If he does move on, we would use the Leon Best situation as a starting point.We would hope that would be the smallest amount we would get for David," Thompson told the Nottingham Evening Post

"The fact is that Leon never played a first team game for us. Despite being only 16, David was very much part of the first team squad and had started matches."

"We regard him as being a very bright prospect for the future and, if he does end up moving to a Premiership club, we would expect to receive compensation which reflects that."

A review of McGoldricks time with the club will be on NCM during the week.