As things stand, “The Monk” will play his last game for the Tangerines at Motherwell on Saturday, because he does not want to stand in the way of close friend Lukasz Zaluska’s top-team opportunities.

He only signed as cover when his fellow-Pole broke a foot in the summer, but, with his mate’s fitness problems lingering, United want him to stay on for a few more weeks at least.

And, while he’ll take nothing for granted until the ink on a new deal is dry, boss Craig Levein is hopeful Szamotulski will be hanging on.

“I’ve spoken to him and I know he is at least seriously considering it. If he signs, it would be a big help to us and to Lukasz,” said Craig.

“I respect his reasons for saying he would not stay on when Lukasz was fit, but the simple fact is Lukasz is nowhere near ready to play for our first team.

“He has only had one closed-door game since he recovered from his latest problem and, with no reserve games for a few weeks, there is not much chance of more games for a while.

“That’s not really a problem, because, after being out for so long, he needs an extended period of hard training to get him fully fit again, so Szamotulski would not be holding him back.”

While he was not prepared to reveal any names yet, Craig did confirm agreement has been reached with a striker and a left-back — Dundee’s Paul Dixon has been linked — who will sign once the transfer window opens on Tuesday.

Also officially becoming a United player that day will be Berwick Rangers midfielder Danny Swanson. He has already be training with the squad three days a week and is likely to be on the bench against Hearts.

“I will have Danny and another two added next week, and that will boost the numbers,” added Craig.

“It is important we get another striker and you just have to look at how we’ve struggled for cover when either Christian Kalvenes or Sean Dillon have been out to see that we needed a full-back.”

Craig also took time today to stress that, despite a run of four defeats in the last five games, his belief in his players has not wavered.

“At some point, every team has a sticky spell and we are no different. I feel there have been reasons for ours and, while there has been the odd bad performance, there have been other factors.

“Yesterday, I was disappointed because we conceded from set-pieces, which just is not us, but, over the 90 minutes, we competed well with Celtic and there was not a great deal between the teams.”