For many players who have been denied a move to England by their club, where the comparative salary on offer would be substantially higher than their current remuneration, their nose would be firmly out of joint.

But not Motherwell youngster Chris Cadden, who swears he is living the dream at Fir Park despite a deadline day offer from Oxford United being booted out by the Steelmen’s board.

Cadden was on under-21 duty on deadline day, and he says he has enough to focus on trying to perform for both his club and country to let speculation over his future affect him.

And, for the moment at least, there is nowhere that the 20-year-old would rather be.

“The gaffer phoned and explained everything that was happening to me, but it doesn’t bother me,” Cadden said.

“People were making bids, but I’ll just keep playing with Motherwell until I’m told otherwise and if that’s not good enough for anyone else then so be it.

“I’m loving it here. All I’ve wanted to do since I was nine-years-old was play with Motherwell, so I’m having the time of my life here.

“I live two minutes round the road, so I’m in no rush to leave.

“I was sitting in the hotel room on under-21 duty with Oli McBurnie, and he was getting calls like that as well. But it doesn’t affect me. I just shrug it off and concentrate on what is happening on the pitch.

“You can’t really worry about anything that is outwith your control, and that’s the way I look at it, so it doesn’t bother me.

“It’s a great platform here with games against Celtic and Rangers, games on the TV and they obviously give young boys a chance.

“Look at Allan Campbell against Kilmarnock. He was unbelievable and man of the match for me, so the gaffer will give youngsters a chance if you train well and do the right things.”

Cadden is flying after a fine week personally on the domestic front and on the international scene, playing a central role in Scotland under-21s fantastic victory over The Netherlands last Tuesday night.

And he believes good things are around the corner for our current crop of young players, who each have a similarly dedicated mindset as the 20-year-old Motherwell star.

“It was a great week,” he said. “Obviously, it started off well on Tuesday night with the under-21s and then a 2-0 win against Kilmarnock, so I couldn’t have asked for a better week.

“I love being away with the under-21s. I’ve never been about the international set-up until this age group, so to be walking about the camp with all the boys and playing against The Netherlands who have really good players, I was loving it to be honest.

“It’s a different experience and I really enjoyed it, and hopefully there’s plenty more to come.

“There’s some good talented boys up here as you can see from the result last week. You need to have good players to beat Holland.

“We’ve got a good squad and things have changed. We all know we have to make sacrifices if you want to make it, so you have to sit out things like nights out with your pals.

“But to then go out and beat Holland, the feeling after it was incredible, so it is all worth it in the end.”

As a Motherwell lad himself, Cadden was only too happy to help further strengthen the bonds between the club and its supporters by joining the entire club in signing up for the ‘Well Society last week.

“It’s a great thing for the club,” he said. “We need the fans, they are our 12th man here and it’s been shown with our form at Fir Park over the last few games.

“If we can get them on side and if we keep working hard, win tackles and give 100% every week they’ll be on our side, so it’s good to give a wee bit back to them as well.”