RANGERS, Celtic or any other interested party will have to act quickly if they are to secure the services of Scott Allan, after West Bromwich Albion agreed a fee, thought to be in excess of £400,000, for the Dundee United player to join them in January.

Both halves of the Old Firm have been keeping tabs on the playmaker for months but had been thought keener to secure the services of the 20-year-old on a pre-contract, with a view to a move in the summer and with compensation settled by a transfer tribunal. The offer from Roy Hodgson's side, however, places an onus on them to show their hand.

The Scotland Under-21 internationalist, who has made just a handful of appearances for the Tannadice first team, will have discussions with his agent and the club in the next 48 hours and, should everything be resolved amicably, the matter could be taken out of the hands of Old Firm and Newcastle United, who have also been credited with an interest.

On the face of it, the move has plenty going for it: Allan was criticised for demanding to be made the third-highest earner at Tannadice on the strength of so few games but the Midlands side are not only an established Barclays Premier League outfit, but under director of football Dan Ashworth, they are one with a track record of identifying young Scots and turning them into first-team performers. Graham Dorrans, signed from Livingston for £150,000 has graduated into the Scotland squad and the club knocked back a £4m bid from West Ham United last summer.

United have reluctantly conceded in their efforts to keep the player, stung by the sudden emergence of someone whose previous campaign was notable for breaking his foot during a loan spell at Forfar Athletic last season and having assault charges dropped after an altercation outside a nightclub. The club had little wriggle room in negotiations for a player whose contract will expire this summer, but are thought to have secured a couple of add-on clauses, and have now established a compensation value for a player who has been at Tannadice since the age of 10.

Allan is a Glaswegian whose family are mainly composed of Rangers fans and, although his route to the first team would be significantly easier at Ibrox, Rangers will almost certainly now have to match West Brom's offer if they are to land the player. Whether the Ibrox club in their current situation, or for that matter Celtic, would consider that kind of outlay on such an untested youngster as value for money remains to be seen.

"An offer from West Brom has been accepted," John Viola, Allan's representative, told Herald Sport last night. "That is a matter of fact. We are going to talk to the boy at some stage today or tomorrow and find out what his thoughts are on that. The other clubs are all speculation. There have in the past been other clubs down in England who have asked about him and the Old Firm's interest has been well documented. But West Brom are the only club who have made a firm offer, so we will speak to the boy and take it from there.

"I definitely think that he is good enough to play in the Premiership," he added. "If you look at West Brom, and the background of young kids they have brought through then you will see that. I really think he can go and play at the highest level."

Allan is unlikely to be the only high-profile departure from Tannadice in the coming months. Garry Kenneth has already stated a desire to test himself in England once his contract expires in June, and Charlton Athletic are thought to be keen on the defender, with Reading manager Brian McDermott also interested after attending United's recent match with Celtic.

Further to that, manager Peter Houston has admitted that Scott Robertson and Paul Dixon might also envisage their futures being elsewhere. "Garry Kenneth has already told us he wants to go and I wouldn't be surprise if Paul Dixon and Scott Robertson want to do the same. We will wait and see what happens."

United travel to Kilmarnock this weekend and could move into the upper half of the table should they win, but Houston insists nobody at Tannadice is looking too closely at their league position right now.

"When we were down at the bottom a few months ago we were not looking at it so I'm not going to start bumping my gums about it now we're further up," he said. "It's about where you are in May that counts because this is a tight league and everyone can beat each other in the SPL."