Serie A’s Catania in third bid for Johnny Russell

CATANIA have had a third bid for Dundee United forward Johnny Russell knocked back as the Tannadice outfit comes under increasing pressure to sell its prize asset.

By The Newsroom Tuesday, 23rd April 2013, 11:16 am

Johnny Russell: Serie A interest. Picture: SNS

• Johnny Russell subject to third bid from Serie A side Catania

• Dundee United also fighting off interest from Celtic

Sign up to our daily newsletter The i newsletter cut through the noise Sign up Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting...

The latest bid for Russell, who has one year left on his current contract, is thought to be in the region of £800,000, according to The Sun.

The Serie A side have made no secret of their desire to land the Tannadice striker; though Jackie McNamara has said he hopes to extend the striker’s contract, the club hierarchy are thought to be willing to sell him.

The 23-year-old, who has also attracted interest from Celtic, would have the option of signing a pre-contract agreement with the Sicilian side in January - a situation which would leave Dundee United without a transfer fee for the highly-rated player.

McNamara, who still wants to keep Russell, said: “There will be speculation about Johnny because he’s a good player.