Source: Team_Talk
McCall gives up on Gunning
Motherwell boss Stuart McCall has admitted his club could not compete financially with Dundee United to do a deal for defender Gavin Gunning.[LNB] 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.[LNB]McCall had made no secret of his desire to bring the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international back to Fir Park, but United have more spending power following the sale of David Goodwillie to Rovers.[LNB]McCall, whose team host Hearts in the SPL on Sunday, said: "We can't get near the package Dundee United will be offering him.[LNB]"He's one that we would've liked to bring in but it's not in our wage structure and we will move on.[LNB]"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.[LNB]"We couldn't pay anywhere near that last year and we can't pay anywhere near it this year.[LNB]"It happens, and the writing was on the wall in the last week with him trialling down at Scunthorpe. We'll move on and monitor a couple of situations."[LNB]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.[LNB]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.[LNB]McCall said: "It would have been an exciting one, good value for the money we would have been paying him.[LNB]"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."[LNB]The former Scotland midfielder added: "We haven't got much left in the budget so we've got to spend it wisely.[LNB]"Nobody can pinpoint where you are going to get an injury so it looks as though we possibly could need a forward player that can play out wide or up front - like Steve Jones last year.[LNB]"But we also know we're short at the back if we get a couple of injuries to our centre-halves.[LNB]"It's a balancing act but it's what managers get paid for.[LNB]"We've got what we have to spend and no more. There is no one there at the moment.[LNB]"The English teams are back and the reserve leagues have kicked in again, so myself and Kenny (Black) will take in some reserve games and try to pick up a bargain or a loanee."
