Dundee United have decided to push ahead with plans to establish a lucrative new sister club in the United States, according to reports.

On Wednesday, Tannadice chairman Stephen Thompson confirmed that he will step down from the position at the end of the season.

According to the Daily Mail, the club's majority shareholder now intends to spearhead a £3m bid to enter an umbrella club into the newly-formed National Independent Soccer Association.

Established by former Chicago Fire chief Peter Wilt, NISA plans to establish itself as the third tier of the United States Soccer Federation below Major League Soccer and United Soccer League.

The report goes on to claim that Thompson, who was linked with a takeover of Australian club Newcastle Jets in 2015, has now switched his focus to "American cities with high populations and no professional soccer clubs".

Wilt is a director of Club 9 Sports, the Chicago-based organisation linked with a takeover bid for Rangers during the spring of 2012.