St Mirren star Jamie McGrath admits his bumper new contract offer is “very flattering” as his future in Paisley hangs in the balance.
The Buddies are desperate to hang on to the influential playmaker, with Jim Goodwin revealing last week the club are looking to make the Ireland international the highest paid player in their history.
The 25-year-old’s current deal expires at the end of the season, with clubs free to speak to McGrath in January about signing a pre-contract elsewhere.
The Saints faithful are still hopeful McGrath, who almost joined Premiership rivals Hibs on deadline day at the end of August, will sign an extension.
And speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport, McGrath revealed he’s loved “every minute” of his time at St Mirren since joining from Dundalk in January last year as he weighs up recommitting his future to the club.
McGrath said: “The offer has only come around since I got back from Ireland duty, so I haven’t had an awful lot of time to process it.
“I’ll have a chat with my agent and see what the craic is.
“I’m going to see what happens. It’s obviously a good deal and the gaffer has briefly spoken to me about it.
“I’m sure we’ll speak about it more in the next few days.
“It’s obviously very flattering. My time here has been absolutely unbelievable and I’ve enjoyed every minute of being here.
“Whatever happens will happen, but I can’t speak highly enough of being here with the gaffer and the lads.
“It’s a great place to be.”
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for McGrath, who picked up his fourth and fifth caps for Ireland over the international break against Azerbaijan and Qatar respectively.
Showing no signs of jet lag, he came straight back into the St Mirren starting XI that impressively made it three Premiership wins on the bounce against Ross County.
While admitting the game should have been put to bed a lot sooner, McGrath was pleased to play his part as the Buddies stretched their current unbeaten run even further.
McGrath said: “I only got back in on Thursday, so it was a quick turnaround to be fair.
“The legs felt fine though and I was delighted to play as much as I did. It was a great win and I was delighted to be a part of it.
“It was a really enjoyable game. We cut them open quite a few times and probably could have had a few more goals if we’d been a bit more clinical.
“We showed good character to come back and score just after they got one back. That was really important.
“We should have put the game to bed well before the final whistle, but thankfully we still came away with all three points.
“Going out to Baku with Ireland was an incredible experience. It was different class.
“I got the nod at half-time to come on (against Azerbaijan) and make an impact and thankfully I did that. I was delighted.
“I was pleased to have done enough to get the start against Qatar and I think I did well in that one too.
“Overall it was a great international break for me and that can only give me confidence going forward.”
