MOTHERWELL will leave the door open for James McFadden to stay at Fir Park if his American Dream fails to materialise.

The Well idol is currently in the final few days of a record-breaking third spell at the club before he attempts to seal a move to Philadelphia Union.

McFadden was over on trial at the MLS club last October, with it understood he would have to wait until plans for the new campaign this year to get underway.

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee has told SportTimes that there is no update on the former Scotland internationalist’s situation as this weekend’s trip to Dundee is set to be his final fling in claret and amber.

However, he has revealed that if a deal with Union doesn’t come off, that the Steelmen will not rule out allowing McFadden, who got his second appearance on Saturday with a brief cameo against Ross County, the chance to extend his stay in Lanarkshire.

“The door is still open to James to stay, absolutely,” said the Well boss. “Equally, I don’t know why there isn’t a queue of clubs in Scotland wanting his services. He has a decent level of fitness, he’s a terrific player.

“He’s not turning out for us every week, he’s sitting on the bench. There are a lot of teams in Scotland where he could be doing a lot of good.

“I don’t know what will happen this week with him.”

McGhee added: “There’s no update on his situation. I’ve not even spoken to him about it and I’ve just let him get on with things.

“On Saturday with Ross County getting deeper and deeper and more compact, that he could maybe unlock something for us. He almost did get an equaliser when he tried to chip the keeper, he was unlucky.

“We know in those type of situations that Faddy has the ability to maybe get us something.”

While McGhee was full of praise for the experienced pro, he was also forthcoming with admiration for one of his lot who is just starting out in the game.

Saturday represented midfielder Chris Cadden’s first Motherwell start and the 19-year-old performed admirably, going on to win the man-of-the-match award in the process.

He was eventually substituted on 76 minutes but his gaffer admitted it wasn’t a reflection on how the Under-20s star had performed.

“He has shown he can step up and he has been doing well in the Under-20s,” said McGhee. “We took him off which was a difficult decision, but we were looking for someone like Lionel to bring us back into the game.

“It was the lads’ first full start and it was a good debut. After an hour or so he will start to run out of energy, so it was hard on him to bring him off. But I think it was the right decision.

“I thought he did really well.”

Reflecting on his team’s result at the weekend in the 2-1 loss to the Staggies, McGhee was keen to pick out the positives after the harrowing experience of going down 6-0 to Hearts a week earlier.

“I think we looked far more ourselves, it’s just disappointing to a lose a goal from a set-play the way we did,” he said.

“We gave them something to hang on to and they were determined, organised and worked very hard to keep their-goal lead. We then got the sucker-punch against us.

“There weren’t any people in there I could point the finger at and say they didn’t work or try hard, we just didn’t convert it into clear enough chances.

“That was disappointing but there are a lot of positives to take on to Dundee.”