Stuart McCall priced out of Gavin Gunning deal

Gunning, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Fir Park, is due to sign a deal at Tannadice once he has finalised his release from Blackburn.

McCall had made no secret of his desire to bring back the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international but United have more spending power following the sale of David Goodwillie to Rovers.

McCall said: "We can't get near the package Dundee United will be offering him. He's one that we would've liked to bring in but it's not in our wage structure and we will move on.

"If he had come back on loan then we would have been able to afford it, but it's a permanent deal and his wages at Blackburn are quite high."

Having brought in Michael Higdon and Nicky Law, McCall previously stated he only had room for one more defender in his squad, but he is short of striking options after John Sutton and Francis Jeffers left.

A French-African striker impressed during a spell at Fir Park last week but Motherwell scrapped the deal when it emerged the trialist had never played professionally and compensation would be due to several amateur clubs for his development.

McCall said: "It would have been an exciting one. Unfortunately, at the last minute after a lot of hard work behind the scenes, because of certain things which we weren't fully detailed about, it's not going to happen."