Ross County assistant manager Billy Dodds has warned Liam Boyce’s admirers that they will have to pay in the region of £1m to land the prolific striker.

The Northern Ireland internationalist finished the season as the Premiership’s top scorer after netting 23 of his 24 goals in the league.

Edinburgh rivals Hearts and Hibs have already been linked with the 26-year-old, as have clubs from the English Championship.

But with Boyce still having another year to run on his contract, former Scotland and Rangers marksman Dodds insists there is no chance that the Staggies will allow the former Werder Bremen and Cliftonville marksman to leave on the cheap.

Dodds said: “We would like to keep him for longer, but we can't deny somebody his chance.

"It's going to take a lot of money to get him - I'm close with Boycey, we speak about a lot of things, but he's never mentioned leaving the club. I wouldn't deny him his chance, but it's going to take plenty of pennies to get a player of Liam Boyce's calibre.

“He’s not just a goalscorer, I mean an all-round player. He's so intelligent, he's got unbelievable ability for a big lad, he's a top player.”

“It would be up there (£1m), especially for a goalscorer.

“Strikers are special, people pay more money for you.

“I’m not going to say how much because you don't know what team comes in - there might be Scottish clubs, there might be English clubs.

"We'll be speaking to him and we'll see what he's thinking.

"We've never said to him, come on, what are you thinking? We left him, because he was in such a good vein of form, plus we wanted to get the relegation trouble out the way first.”