No New Deal In Offing For Dundee Defensive Duo

[JoeCovenant]

Dundee are yet to open negotiations with defensive duo Thomas Konrad and Kosta Gadzhalov.

The pair are both out of contract this summer and are hopeful of new deals.

But manager Paul Hartley has confirmed that, unlike Paul McGinn, who has been offered terms but is yet to put pen to paper, Gadzhalov and Konrad have not been spoken to by anyone at the club with regards to new contracts beyond this campaign.

However, he did not rule that out from happening before their deals are up at the end of June.

The gaffer said: “Konrad and Kosta are players we will be speaking to about the future in the next couple of weeks.

“We can say that we haven’t offered them deals.

“We have signed a few up already and we have the Inverness lads (James Vincent and Danny Williams) in on pre-contracts as well so we will probably take our time with those two.â€

German central defender Konrad signed with the club in the summer of 2014 after a successful trial, along with flop forward Luka Tankulic.

Since then the former-Karlsruhe kid has established himself as a regular in the Dark Blues first-team, making a total of 69 appearances, 59 of which have been starts.

But it is unclear whether he will be offered new terms by the club, especially with James McPake, earmarked for the captaincy next season, signed up for another year alongside Spaniard Julen Etxabeguren, who has another two years, and Darren O’Dea, who recently penned a three-year contract at Dens Park.

Paul also has Daryll Meggatt, who can play centrally or at left-back, on the books until the summer of 2017.

The Tele understands Konrad has not been short of interest in recent weeks with a number of clubs in England’s League One contacting his agent about the possibility of a switch.

Konrad, plucked from semi-professional football at Eintracht Trier in the third tier of German football, also has the option to stay in Scotland, outside of the City of Discovery.

It’s understood a Scottish Premiership side has shown an interest in tieing him down, as well as a host of clubs in Konrad’s homeland tabling solid offers.

Bulgarian utility man Gadzhalov is almost certain to leave, though.

It was a big surprise the ex-Lokomotiv Plovdiv man was given a one-year extension last summer. Another year is thought to be unlikely.

When talking about his summer rebuild, Paul said: “We are not too far off where we want to be.

“If we can get one or two players in the door we will be OK for next season.â€

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