David McGoldrick issues show Notts County have two options this summer | OneFootball

McGoldrick's quality has been sorely missed of late and, with his contract expiring at the end of the season, Notts look set to face a big decision.

Notts County’s recent issues in the absence of David McGoldrick look like they will leave the Magpies with a key decision on their hands in the summer.

The striker has missed the last four league games with an injury problem and Stuart Maynard’s side have uncharacteristically struggled to create chances in that time. With McGoldrick sidelined, they have looked off the pace of late.

Notts tasted their first defeat in seven games when they were beaten by Port Vale on 13th February, before a 1-1 home draw with Colchester United and a 2-1 win over Tranmere Rovers (albeit in unconvincing fashion) on Saturday.

Given how influential the 37-year-old has been to the team this season, the Magpies look set to face a vital decision this summer. With his contract expiring at the end of the season, they must surely look to either offer him renewed terms, or if not, sign a capable replacement to build the team around ahead of the next campaign.

McGoldrick has been a huge miss for Notts of late

At McGoldrick’s age, you would expect a player’s performances to start winding down as the end of their career edges closer. However, for the former Sheffield United and Derby County man, that couldn’t be further from the truth this season.

Despite looking burned out at times towards the end of last season, McGoldrick has hit another level entirely this term, cementing himself as one of the key cogs in the Notts side once again.

The frontman is already onto 13 league goals for the campaign, and his partnership with Alassana Jatta has become one of the most dangerous in League Two.

Aside from his understanding with Jatta, McGoldrick’s ability to drop deep and unlock doors with his vision and technique has been a hugely important factor for the Magpies this season, especially since the departure of Dan Crowley at the start of January.

With the former academy graduate out of the side of late, Notts have suffered badly in terms of their creativity.

In the last four games, they have created an average of 2.25 big chances per game. Although that remains a fairly high total, across the other 28 league games, they created 2.75 big chances per game, on average.

Those struggles were particularly evident on Saturday, when they failed to open up a struggling Tranmere side on a regular basis and desperately lacked a player capable of producing a moment of ingenuity to open up a defence.

McGoldrick’s partnership with Jatta has become so strong that, in his absence, the Gambian has been less effective with little support around him.

The pair have shouldered the vast majority of the goalscoring burden for Maynard’s men this season, and with the club’s next highest scorer sat on just five league goals (Jodi Jones), getting McGoldrick fit and firing again as soon as possible could prove to be the difference between promotion or another year in League Two.

Notts will now be left with two options in the summer

With McGoldrick’s contract due to expire at the season’s close, the Magpies face a huge decision on their hands over the summer.

The veteran has proven himself to still be a hugely effective contributor this season and that will likely be the case regardless of which division Notts end up playing their football in next term.

He still has the level of quality and nous that made him such a success in his younger years and, although he’s not as quick as he once was, it’s fair to say that speed was never really a key part of his game in the first place.

With that in mind, you would imagine it could well be a fairly simple decision for the world’s oldest Football League club to table a renewed deal, assuming money isn’t too much of a concern at this stage of his career.

However, if the board decide they wish to go in a different direction, perhaps favouring a more youthful option with a view towards the future, then they must ensure they bring in a replacement with genuine, proven quality.

It’s testament to McGoldrick’s performances this term that it is now hard to see Notts being able to function to their level without a player of his ilk floating between the lines and getting on the ball in areas that can hurt the opposition.

In the recent games without him, they have become far too predictable and have allowed opposition teams to get settled in behind the ball. If that is to continue into next season and beyond, it could cause the club’s continuous progress on the pitch to plateau a little.