NO-ONE wanted to touch David Clarkson in the summer, and now teams struggle to get near him.

If Clarkson's one-man goalscoring rampage was motivated by revenge his victims would have extended only to Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone. Those were the three clubs that had a sniff at him only to look elsewhere during the close season. Back then, he was a free agent fearful of where his career was heading.

Each of them has been on the receiving end from Clarkson in the past eight weeks as he became the first player ever to score in all of his first seven games for Dundee. But his voracious run has also extended to take in goals against Ross County, Aberdeen, Hamilton and Celtic. Seven games for Dundee and a single goal in each of them. No striker in dark blue has managed a run like that since Johnny Bell scored in nine consecutive games in the 1920s. Clarkson will edge even closer to that if he scores against Aberdeen for a second time in the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

Dundee signed him on a one-year contract and manager Paul Hartley was predictably keen to extend that yesterday. "We're talking to the owners just now," said Hartley. "It's something we want to try and do, that's for sure. We've got David until the end of the season but I want to try and keep him longer because he's been absolutely terrific.

"We were fortunate enough that we were able to get him, we might not have. I still think there's much more to come from him. His work-rate, experience and overall play has been first-class. I always knew how good player he was and he just needed to top up his fitness."

Clarkson's story has been one of remarkable rehabilitation and renewal. He is 29, but Derek Riordan and Garry O'Connor have shown that celebrated names can prematurely slip towards obscurity. Six years ago Clarkson's career was soaring. He scored on his Scotland debut in 2008 and soon after his second cap he made an £800,000 move to Bristol City in the English Championship. That was to be his high watermark. Injuries and lost form undermined his impact and he was released by Bristol City in 2014.

After joining the other Bristol club, Rovers, as a free agent, his decline continued and he was also released by them two years later. Back in Scotland, and mercifully fit, his strength, work-rate and finishing have again found a natural home.

His renaissance at Dundee has been particularly pleasing for the Scotland assistant manager, Mark McGhee. Few have had a more influential role on the striker's career. McGhee inherited Clarkson when he took over as Motherwell manager in 2007 and saw a raw diamond who was capable of improvement. "I remember Gordon [Strachan] gave me some OPTA stuff and DVDs that Celtic had on Motherwell," said McGhee.

"I looked at them and saw that David Clarkson got more touches of the ball than any other Motherwell player but also that he gave the ball away more than any of the others.

"We worked together one-to-one on the training pitch, working on how to take the ball at speed. He got so much better at that and his confidence grew. We had Ross McCormack, Chris Porter and Clarkie as a front three and they all worked very, very hard."

Clarkson scored 13 times in 41 appearances in McGhee's first season at Fir Park and then 14 times in 39 appearances in his second. The pair of them left the club within days of each other - McGhee to Aberdeen, then Clarkson to Bristol City - but their stories were inextricably linked by the tragedy of Phil O'Donnell suffering fatal heart failure after collapsing on the pitch during a game against Dundee United. Clarkson, O'Donnell's uncle, played in the match and McGhee earned widespread praise for the dignity he showed as manager.

They were reunited in 2012 when McGhee, by then the manager at Bristol Rovers, signed Clarkson. "He worked really hard again at Bristol but to be honest I abused him really, he was our best player but we had so many problems that I used him in different positions. And he suffered bad injuries too. I'm really pleased he's doing well.

"He's a first class lad, a family guy and great professional. I did fear for him and wondered if he might be drifting and that the injuries had taken their toll."

The way things are going, the pair could yet work together for a third time if Clarkson keeps scoring regularly for Dundee and makes a powerful case for being back in the Scotland set-up for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar in March.

But first, a club record is in sight. So far all of his goals have come in the Premiership. Strangely, in terms of the difference they have made to Dundee they have been worth only one point. The fact is highly misleading. The reality is that they have given Dundee a predator that other clubs fear, and they have restored the reputation of one of Scotland's lost talents.