Dunfermline boss John Potter reckons a deal to take experienced defender Jim Paterson to East End Park would represent a great bit of business for the Fife club.
The Pars manager confirmed yesterday that moves are afoot to sign the 35-year-old left back once his contract ends at Forfar this week, and the Loons are seemingly resigned to losing the former Scotland Under 21 international to their League One title rivals.
Nothing has been confirmed on that front yet however, although Potter is optimistic that the lure of full-time football and an enhanced coaching role will get the deal over the line.
“He’s obviously out of contract and I know Forfar are desperate to keep him, while three or four other clubs are interested and may have offered him more money than we have,” he told Courier Sport.
“But he seems quite keen and we’re hopeful on it.
“Nothing is done and dusted yet but, as I say, he seems quite keen and I’m going to have another chat with him later in the week and see where we’re at.
“He’s about the same age as me, I’ve done three or four coaching courses and I’ve played against him for years.
“He’s had a great career, he’s been very consistent in his performances, and he’s a leader and a winner which I like.
“He’s experienced and can play anywhere I’ve seen him play left back, centre back, centre mid, left wing.
“So he’s very versatile and I like his way about him.
“It’s a deal I would like to do and fingers crossed we can get it done.”
If the Paterson deal is completed as expected, it could be the start of a fairly active transfer window for the Fife club.
“I’ve spoken to a couple of players about possibly leaving and a couple of players about possibly coming in as well, but nothing definite at this stage,” Potter added.
“We’ve made our intentions clear to teams on players we’re keen on, and hopefully things will happen in the first couple of weeks in January.
“That could depend on players coming in or going out elsewhere, but we know the ones that we want and we’ll have to wait and see over the next few weeks.”
Potter has only been in the top job for a couple of weeks now but already he has been forced to make some difficult decisions.
Top scorer Gozie Ugwu and Sorel Chemin were both told their short-term contracts would not be renewed earlier this week, and Potter has explained his reasoning behind those calls.
“Their contracts were up and I was looking to free up a bit of money obviously that I was looking to use elsewhere,” he commented.
“From that side of things, the guys might have been a wee bit unlucky.
“Sorel had improved from when he first came in, and in an ideal world it would have been nice to keep him, but we’re not in a position to keep guys that might be OK and might be a bit part player.
“That’s just where the club is.
“Gozie had scored goals and had done well in games, other games not so well.
“He was a wee bit inconsistent for me and it was another opportunity to free up some money which could be used elsewhere.
“His wage and the accommodation for him and Sorel was quite a lot of money for a club like Dunfermline, so it’s money I feel I can use elsewhere and maybe get a couple of players out of it.
“I’m looking to make a wee change, freshen things up, and sadly they were the victims of that.
“The two of them are nice guys. We got on well with them, they are improving as players, but these are decisions I’ve got to make.
“I’ve got to live or die with those decisions and those two players were the obvious ones where their contracts were coming to an end.”
The Pars were due to play a friendly yesterday but that was cancelled at short notice, meaning another day of training as usual ahead of this weekend’s league game against Peterhead.