Carlisle United boss sees Glenn Murray similarity with Dudik

Simpson has offered Dudik a new deal at Brunton Park.

He sees the forward as a natural finisher – in the same way a young Murray was when he joined Carlisle as a raw young player nearly 20 years ago.

United’s manager also believes former Shakhtar Donetsk trainee Dudik is worth a chance because he has the strength to deal with the senior game.

Dudik, 19, joined United in January and mostly featured in reserve and youth games, whilst he made two first-team substitute appearances.

Simpson says he has seen evidence of his goalscoring capabilities in training and said: “I see Anton has the physicality to be able to cope with men's football.

Paul Simpson has offered Dudik, right, a new deal (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“And he's a really good goalscorer. He's a finisher.

“We haven't seen that [at first team level] yet, but I'm trying to take into account the whole upheaval of what he's been through in his life [having to move to England from war-torn Ukraine].

“I see somebody who has got an incredible attitude to wanting to improve, to wanting to learn and I see the power that he has in his finishing.

“It's a little bit similar, if I'm honest, to when we brought Glenn Murray into the football club - Glenn was certainly not the finished article, but he went on to have an incredible career because he had that natural knack of scoring goals.

“Anybody who watches when we're training and sees Anton with his finishing on his day [will see] he's a goalscorer...and it's really difficult to find goalscorers.

“So I just think he's somebody who's worth looking at and keeping.”

Simpson admits United are taking a “punt” on Dudik and has stressed it is a development-level deal on the table for the forward.

He was the only out-of-contract player to be offered new terms by the Blues at the end of last season.

Simpson said that, because he will not be able to play for United’s under-18s next season, Carlisle will consider loan opportunities to further Dudik’s senior development.

“That’s something we might have to look at,” added Simpson.

“He'll be in and around us for pre-season when we're mixing the teams and we need bodies – and we'll wait and see.

“He might have a great pre-season that [leads us to] think he could be in the [first-team] 18 because he's a good option to have.

“But that's something that we'll look at further down the line.”

Simpson gave Dudik a month to make his decision on United’s offer and added: “He wants to stay, he's keen to stay…these things are just never straightforward unfortunately.”