Stuart Bannigan has admitted that he is likely to leave Partick Thistle in the summer, but not before giving his all to secure the Jags’ top-flight status.

Bannigan is out of contract at the end of the season, and Aberdeen and Barnsley have both been credited with an interest in securing the dynamic midfielder’s signature.

Almost every player to a man in such a situation will insist that their mind is firmly on the job at hand at their current club, but with the depth of feeling that Bannigan has for Partick Thistle, it is easy to see that he truly means it.

After coming through the ranks to establish himself as a mainstay in the Thistle engine room, there could never be any doubt over his commitment to the cause.

He said: “It’s not so difficult to deal with, it’s all just speculation at the minute, there’s nothing concrete happening so I’m just concentrating on doing my best for Thistle.

“I know that a lot of people will say that in this situation, but that’s genuinely how it is for me. Thistle have given me everything in my football career and I owe them so much, so I’ll just be keeping my head down and doing the best that I can for the club.

“I don’t know what’s happening yet, so all I can do at the moment is keep giving my all for Thistle.

“I’ve been here a long time and the club have given me absolutely everything, but I’ve got to consider my options.

“Sometimes you need a wee fresh challenge or a different outlook, or try to step up to that next level, so I’ll need to wait and see.

“It’s not 100% that I’ll leave, but I’m honest enough to admit that I am looking at my options.

“The manager has been absolutely fantastic with me and said he’s happy enough for me to have a wee look about.

“The manager knows the way the game works and he’s been happy to keep me in the team, so I’ll be giving absolutely everything for him and the club.”

There was speculation throughout January that Bannigan may leave the club during the mid-season transfer window, but manager Alan Archibald took a hard-line stance over his out-of-contract stars staying at the club at least until the end of the season. Bannigan was fully behind his boss’s stance.

“I think it was a great thing that the manager did a couple of weeks ago regarding myself and the likes of Steven Lawless, he made sure in no uncertain terms that we weren’t leaving,” he said.

“He made it clear that he wanted to hold on to his best players and that he wanted to hold onto players who have been in his side all season.

“I think he was absolutely right to do that, and it sends out the message to the dressing room that we’re a team here and we have to stick together.”

If Bannigan does indeed depart Firhill this summer, he will be leaving behind a very different club to the one he joined back in 2010.

He is proud of how far the club have come, especially in regards to their focus on developing their own players.

“The club has come such a long way, from right down to the youth football to the way the club is being run at the top,” he said.

“There used to be five or six of us in with no training facilities, just doing a bit of training after the first-team.

“When you see the groups now from the under-13s all the way up, they’ve got full squads and are in all the time, so it’s a source of pride for me to see how far they’ve come as one of the first ones to break through and become established in the first-team.

“What you want to see now is a pathway for the young players to come through and play. There’s not great money in the Scottish game, so you want to see your own young players coming through like Kevin Nisbet or Neil McLaughlin. There’s a clear path to the first-team."