West Bromwich Albion and Hull City are both known to be keeping tabs on the New Douglas Park playmaker with a view to making imminent bids, while SportTimes understands Queens Park Rangers will watch the 22-year-old on Sunday if Accies’ Scottish Cup fourth-round tie with Rangers goes ahead.

But MacDonald said: “At present we have had no written or verbal bids for James and I would reiterate we are in no rush to sell James.

“What has mattered to Hamilton Accies all along is that the next move for James is the right one for him – and not just the right one financially.

“But at this stage, although we know there will be a lot of clubs represented in the stand on Sunday, should the game go ahead, there is nothing further to say at this moment in time.”

It is believed QPR manager Paul Hart will attempt to test Accies’ resolve to keep the former Scotland Under-21 international with a bid of around £350,000.

But Accies are under no pressure to sell having raked in over £1.5million from the transfers of James McCarthy and Brian Easton to Wigan Athletic and Burnley.

The New Douglas Park side are also unlikely to be impressed by any offers of less than £500,000 for a player who has flourished in the SPL in just his second season at the top level in Scot-land and is also the club’s stand-in captain.

McArthur’s Accies midfield team-mate, former Leicester City star James Wesolowski, has no doubt the Scot would flourish in the Championship.

He said: “James has all the attributes to make a success of himself wherever he goes, if he moves on. He is as good as any midfielder I have played with and although he is obviously very skilful, he also has a tremendous work-rate.”

Meanwhile, Accies boss Billy Reid is crossing his fingers that the cup meeting with Rangers does, indeed, survive the elements.

There will be a pitch inspection at New Douglas Park this morning, but Accies have spent the week ensuring both the pitch and the approach to the stadium have been cleared of snow and ice.

With TV cameras due to roll into Hamilton for Sunday’s game, the match would carry a welcome windfall for the club, but aside from the financial aspects, there is also the matter of fixture congestion to contend with, should it fail to beat the weather.

Reid said: “We are doing everything we can to make sure the game goes ahead. This is a big game for us and everyone has been looking forward to it.

“Apart from anything else, we are now looking at playing a lot of games in a very short space of time, which comes with obvious difficulties.

“We do not have a big squad and we have to hope we don’t get too many injuries or suspensions because it could really have a big impact.”

Assuming the game goes ahead, Reid will look to make home advantage count. But the Ibrox side will have Kenny Miller back after suspension.

Reid said: “We didn’t really get a look-in when we played them last year, but I think we have improved a bit since then and when you are on your own patch, then you just never know.

“But Rangers have been flying and they will have Kenny Miller back – his partnership with Kris Boyd is fantastic and we will have to do what we can to keep them quiet, because they’ve been scoring goals for fun.”