Scotland star Stephen O’Donnell weighing up options as Motherwell deal is up next month

O’Donnell, part of the national team set to take part in next summer’s European Championships, was speaking after Saturday’s 3-1 league defeat at Rangers.

“My deal is up at the end of January,” Bellshill-born O’Donnell, 28, told the Times and Speaker.

“The manager’s been relaxed about it, the board’s been relaxed about it, and I’ve been relaxed about it.

“I think the focus needs to be to make sure we’re picking up the right points.

“Then whenever things are a bit more settled down, we can sit and have a conversation about what will be will be the best decision for everyone involved.

“I’ve certainly enjoyed my time at Motherwell. I feel I’ve settled in really well with the players and the staff.

“Obviously, I stay locally, so it’s nearly perfect in that sense, but it needs to fit everyone’s agenda.

“I’m hoping to get to the Euros in the summer, but, again, you can’t make decisions based on that because you don’t know what’s round the corner.

“I want to just keep working hard and hopefully have conversations with my agent, the club and other clubs, if interested, and then I’ll see what I think’s best moving forward for myself.

“It’s a time you can maybe be a bit more selfish, but in the short term I’m only interested in one thing and that’s working my backside off for Motherwell.

“I hope that since I’ve come back from Scotland that the fans, the players, the management and staff can see that.

“That will continue until I’m not here. Whether that’s in January, the summer or in five years’ time, that’s all I’ll do. It’s all I’ve ever done for every club I’ve been at.

O’Donnell, whose ’Well defensive team-mate Declan Gallagher has also excelled for Scotland, added: “Playing for Scotland does give you great confidence, but every game’s different.

“It’s disappointing that we’ve not maybe been able to use that to then bring better performances personally and collectively, bring that round.

“I think we just need to make sure we keep working hard and try to do the best we can for Motherwell.”

Despite taking an early lead through Callum Lang and Ibrox and still leading 1-0 after 72 minutes, a late Rangers surge saw off ’Well.

“I think when you’re defending for large spells of the game, it’s always going to be that concentration is crucial,” O’Donnell said.

“Unfortunately, there were a couple of lapses, but it’s going to happen. That’s why you need a bit of an outlet and maybe play that pass that gets you up the park.

“A couple of times we got free-kicks up there and it just gives everyone a wee rest.

“I don’t know if it happened enough today but collectively I think we stuck to our task pretty well.

“Rangers are a good side and they’ve shown that. They’ve been the form side in the league.

“What’s frustrating is that when you get to 70 minutes, you’re thinking ‘dig in and we’ll hopefully come away with a point’.

“We didn’t manage to do that, but that is not how our season is going to be defined. It’s not how we do against Rangers and Celtic.

“We need to make sure in the next four games we pick up as many points as we can.”

An ultra-defensive display by Motherwell at Ibrox meant they often lined up with two banks of five players in a game in which they only had 18% possession.

O’Donnell said: “I think we maybe hoped that we could have kept it more of a 4-5-1, but they move it well. They’re a good side, and that’s what happens when you pay 20 times your budget or however much it is.

“I think the shape worked for large, large spells and we’d worked on it, so testament to us doing it in a week’s work.

“Hopefully we get the points we need against Aberdeen (at Fir Park tonight) if we want to stay in the top six.

“I think for Motherwell, first and foremost, we need to focus on getting enough points to stay in the league.

“I think there’s enough good quality throughout this squad to have top six as a realistic aim, but if you don’t start picking up the points, then it’s not.

“We need to get the wins and then you start to look to Europe and competing with Hibs and Aberdeen.”

In a season blighted by injury to several key players, ’Well have at least been heartened by the news that left back Jake Carroll is in the squad to face Aberdeen and goalkeeper Trevor Carson is back in training, having suffered a meniscus tear in a 4-0 home win over Ross County on October 24.

“I think Trevor is getting there,” O’Donnell said. “He’s obviously a top-quality goalkeeper and we have missed him, but equally we’ve had Aaron Chapman and Jordan Archer, who’s come in and done well as well.

“I don’t think you want to rush Trevor. You want to make sure he’s back fit and ready.”