Dundee United's key players will be looking to move, says Sean Dillon

THE Dundee United squad have proved themselves a match for most in the country and, given another season together, Sean Dillon believes they would build on the potential success of this campaign. But he says even the lure of European football next term may not be enough to prevent some players leaving in the summer.

Citing the example of predecessors who have gone on to thrive on a bigger stage in England, the full-back says everyone at Tannadice is ambitious to better themselves professionally and financially.

Despite progressing to the Scottish Cup final and setting themselves the target of overhauling Celtic in the SPL or, at the very least, securing third place, the Irishman warned that a lot of hard work is required before anything is guaranteed and says the downside of success would be the club's susceptibility to transfer bids from bigger clubs, especially for budding youngsters such as Garry Kenneth.

"But I'm sure he's not the only one who will attract attention and that's the problem," says Dillon. "I'm sure there are a few lads like Barry Robson, Willo Flood, Noel Hunt as well as others who could go on to bigger and better things and I go back to what Craig Levein said, and that was that you're in the shop window. It's not a nice thing to say for the club, but unfortunately that's the way it is and if a bigger club comes calling it's going to be difficult first of all for the club to refuse a big-money deal and, secondly, it's going to be difficult for the player to turn it down as well. It's unfortunate and it's not something the fans want to hear, but that's the reality of it.

"I am sure if we have Europe to look forward to it would attract players and it's something else the old gaffer would have mentioned to every player that he signed. Unfortunately we missed out on the last day in the last two seasons so it has been a bit frustrating, but that kind of thing has already attracted players and, certainly, if we can confirm we are there then we can make sure that more players come in and maybe other players won't want to go."

Having drawn with Rangers in midweek, the team want to get back to winning ways against Motherwell this afternoon. He watched as the Fir Park side took a 1-0 lead against Celtic on Tuesday before succumbing 2-1 and while that allowed them to stretch their advantage over Crag Brown's side, he knows victories will have to be gained in as many of the remaining matches as possible if they are to succeed in splitting the Old Firm.

"The thing is that we haven't done anything yet. I don't want to sound negative, but we are only in a cup final. Come 16 May, with a bit of luck, we will have a couple of things to celebrate, but we still have work to do before then."

Dillon recognises that having something to battle for in the league will help the team stay in top form ahead of the cup final. That's a scenario the club would love to maintain between now and the summer, even if it does heighten the risk of losing players. Success, after all, rarely comes without a price tag.