BURNLEY are reported to have had a £750,000 bid for Dundee United midfielder Barry Robson rejected, but a deal could still be in the offing.

Tannadice chairman Eddie Thompson, who has also turned down a written approach from Nottingham Forest, has left the door open for improved offers by saying: "They have both been told in the nicest possible way to go away and rethink."

Neither bid matched the Terrors valuation of the 29-year-old, who has scored 11 goals from midfield already this season - two of them coming in their win over his home-town club Aberdeen at the weekend, after he had scored the winner in their Scottish Cup clash with Clyde in midweek.

I understand they are hoping to achieve at least £1.25million for a player who cost them £50,000 from Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the summer of 2003.

But Thompson and manager Craig Levein are reluctant to let Robson go.

"Barry Robson is a 29-year-old man with a couple of kids who, in my opinion, has only really blossomed in the last year or so," said Thompson.

"He's always had talent, but his consistency was nowhere near what it should have been.

"In the last year, he has really got a grip on what he is doing on the field and off it.

"He is working hard and playing well and that is always going to attract interest from other clubs."

He added: "There's a whole stack of people watching him.

"But Craig and I want to keep him.

"You saw the way he struck the ball in from 35 yards the other night, passed the ball into the net on Saturday then you knew where he was going to put that free-kick."