There will probably come a time when Charlie Wyke outscores and outgrows Carlisle United and we will all have to live with our loss. Until then, it is all about timing.

Not just the timing Wyke is showing in the penalty area right now, but the moment of his departure. The why, the how and - most crucially - the when.

Clearly a big offer can make the decision appear straightforward - and United's tight finances must be a factor in any debate. Yet currently there does not appear to be a deal on the table and ideally the next week-and-a-half will pass quietly as far as their No9 is concerned.

Wyke himself does not seem perturbed by the recurring stories linking him with other clubs. "None of them are true," he said this week, whilst confessing to regular checks of his Twitter account to see which inaccurate rumour was doing the rounds this time.

This was said without any outward anxiety and it may be that the 24-year-old is one of those players who enjoys the spotlight in its many forms, instead of being a violet that shrinks.

This is probably a good thing for a centre-forward - a position where headlines are seldom far away - but it may also encourage scouts who are certainly assessing the full package of Wyke this winter.

Dealing with the first real bout of pressure and speculation in his career: another tick in the notepad. Kyle Dempsey was another hot Carlisle prospect who seemed to relish being the subject of attention, even if none of these players have quite had what Paul Murray had to deal with during his United career: a message from Michael Knighton that Liverpool's Roy Evans was in the crowd and willing to do a deal, provided he played well enough.

Murray didn't, and freely admits Knighton's pre-match tip-off had scrambled his young mind. Eventually, though, his talent took him to QPR, and there comes a point when a little queue forms for a player in which those standing in line won't be budged or deterred.

Carlisle reaching League One in May would give them some leverage in any attempt to keep their current prized asset and, either way, one feels the summer would be a better time to do business of any kind.

On balance, this window carries too many risks, and while the colour of Championship or League One money can always change the terms of any conversation (as could a release clause in Wyke's contract), Carlisle would also have to consider what they would stand to lose.

At this moment the answer is: much more than before. United have scored plenty of goals this season but the proportion of them taken by Wyke has increased dramatically of late. In their last 12 games, the former Middlesbrough man has claimed 11 of the team's 22. This after scoring six of their first 46 in their opening 22 matches.

That is an increase from 13 to 50 per cent, at a time when the Blues are trying to emerge from their first real tricky spell of 2016/17. While injuries to certain key players have weakened Keith Curle's team, Wyke's output has actually improved.

This would be a lot to sacrifice, a lot to try and replace mid-season, and the sort of uncertainty Curle could probably do without as he tries to shake the balance sheet in other areas to deliver a top-three position.

Wyke himself seems in no hurry to leave ("hopefully I can stay here and we can win promotion," he said last Saturday) and one hopes those around him are consolidating these sensible thoughts about his immediate future. Those "untrue" rumours are being fuelled somewhere and sadly one does not have to go too far down this sort of road before running into someone whose first thought is not necessarily the young player's best needs.

An emerging striker would only be human if he wondered about the best time to capitalise on his rising stock. But even a drought from here would not diminish Wyke's appeal much. Danny Graham spent much of 2008/9 scoring in a fading side but ended the campaign in miserable form, with no goals in his final 18 outings and not even picked for United's final three games, including the last-day survival epic against Millwall.

That dry run did not deter those who had already made their minds up on a striker with higher potential. A move to Watford was duly made that summer and Graham has since operated in the Championship and Premier League, no lower.

So even if Wyke and United tailed off, doors would still surely open for a goalscorer whose maturity and presence on the pitch is clearly growing and whose age is round about ideal for managers seeking battle-hardened potential in the lower leagues.

A record of 17 goals from 32 games is an obvious temptation and Wyke appears destined to become United's first 20-goal man since Karl Hawley in 2005/6. He is under contract for another season yet do not doubt that the finer details of that clause will be passed around by and to whoever needs to know it, even if it seldom gets discussed on the record.

In the meantime, he is doing a good job of negotiating his way through a silly season which seems sillier than ever the longer you spend on Twitter, with its little army of fake agents, one of which was called out by this column last week. If there is anything else for United to address regarding Wyke in the real world it is probably to share the load more and bring his percentage down just a little.

The last striker to score at his rate, Ian Stevens in 1997/8, hit 19 in a relegation season. The previous year saw a promotion campaign in which Carlisle's top marksman got 13. Four players, though, reached double figures in 1996/7, with another claiming eight, and United's cause this season would be equally well served by others getting a little closer to Wyke and Jason Kennedy (who has 11 so far).

At the same time, this may seem the least of their problems considering they go to Accrington today seeking a first clean-sheet since October 8. On that basis, nobody would turn down a Wyke winner in a 1-0 - and then, ideally, a few more, during and after a month that should above all demonstrate the value of safety first.