MARVIN JOHNSON is Motherwell's million pound man – and his team-mates are not ready to let him forget it.

The winger has been the subject of three bids from League One Oxford United, all of which have been rebuffed by the Fir Park club who have a seven-figure price on their star man’s head.

His value shows no signs of diminishing now the Ladbrokes Premiership season is underway after another eye-catching display – including netting the winning goal – in the 2-1 triumph away to Kilmarnock.

One of his biggest admirers is team-mate Chris Cadden, who has watched Johnson get better game by game – a fact that has been underlined by a goal in each of his last four games.

And while some may let the attention go to their heads, Cadden insists there is no chance his 25-year-old team-mate will get carried away.

“When he misses a goal in training we’re now saying ‘and you want £1m for him!’ just to wind him up,” laughed the young midfielder. “You’ve got to look up to guys like that.

“Keeping him is massive. You can see he’s a phenomenal talent. I think that’s four goals already.

“He’s quick, has a cracking left foot, can play with his right and is big and strong. He also works his socks off.

“I heard the gaffer’s interview saying he could easily play in the Championship and I think so as well.

“He gets in about things, pushes people about, is strong and is just a very good player. Hopefully we can keep hold of him as he’ll be a key part to this season.

“I’ve learned from the way he goes about things on the training ground. You might think he’s one of these guys going around thinking ‘there’s bids coming in for me’ but in every training session he puts everything in and works really hard.”

It was mission accomplished for a Motherwell side who now go into Wednesday’s Betfred Cup game away to Celtic on the back of four straight victories.

One key feature of their fortune in recent weeks has been the dynamism in their front free. Despite not being able to field Scott McDonald and Louis Moult at the same time through injury, Mark McGhee has allowed Johnson and fellow winger Lionel Ainsworth to play with more freedom.

These new roles paid off on Saturday as the pair grabbed Motherwell's two goals and midfield Cadden admits he is impressed by his gaffer's new tactics.

"It does work well," he said. "The gaffer says that myself, Lionel and Marv can play either of those positions. They are obviously very good players with speed and it works well with Scotty up there on his own. It’s looking good.

"We’re looking good. That was the gaffer’s point before the game and that’s four games that we’ve started very well.

"We just want to keep kicking on from that. That’s what he said after the game. We’ve got Celtic on Wednesday but we’ll take a lot of confidence going into that.

"At 2-0 up we felt pretty comfortable and if it hadn’t gone 2-1 we could may be have got a third or a fourth. But goals change games don’t they?

"When they scored the crowd got behind them and to be fair they dug in and fought away. But the boys were brilliant – Big Mick [Stephen McManus] and the whole back four were brilliant and they helped us get a win."