If he stays with St Johnstone Stevie May can be a 20-goal Scottish Premiership striker this season, according to manager Tommy Wright.
The Perth boss reported that Peterborough United haven’t been in touch with Saints since Wednesday to indicate whether they intend to continue their pursuit of the in-form Scotland under-21 forward.
Mindful that an offer could yet come in that would be too much to turn down for a player who is only under contract for a year, Wright believes May is at the best place to build his career.
And he’s excited about what club and player can achieve if they stay together.
Wright, who has brought Manchester City winger Alex Henshall to McDiarmid with a view to a possible loan deal, said: “I want Stevie to stay here and I’ve told him I think the best thing for him would be to spend more time here with us.
“He’s come into our team, he’s playing regularly and he’s doing well at the moment.
“He’ll get no better education than playing with St Johnstone, racking up the minutes and learning from guys like Stevie MacLean.
“No disrespect to Peterborough, if he keeps playing here and scores 20 goals this season which he’s capable of then he might get a bigger club looking at him.
“I’m realistic enough to know that if the valuation the chairman has is met then Stevie will go.”
“I don’t want that to happen and deep down the chairman doesn’t want to go either,” Wright said.
“The pair of us want to see Stevie playing for St Johnstone for the foreseeable future because I believe he’ll score 15 to 20 goals this season. He knows how highly we rate him and he knows he’ll play here.”
Wright certainly doesn’t sense that May is in a hurry to leave Perth.
He added: “Stevie is a local lad and he loves playing for the club. We’ve kept him informed and at no point has he said he wants to leave here.
“But obviously we know he’s got himself to look after. As things stand, Peterborough have not been back in since we told them the last offer wasn’t acceptable. And from my own point of view, I hope they don’t come back because I want Stevie here.
“I’m meeting the chairman on Tuesday and we’ll discuss things. We can’t let it drag on because we need to know where we stand. If Stevie goes we’ll need to bring someone in.”
Wide left is a position that Wright is keen to strengthen and former England under-17 winger Henshall could fit the bill.
He was farmed out by City to Chesterfield at the back end of last season and, judging by a YouTube clip of him scoring against Liverpool, isn’t lacking in skill.
Wright said: “Alex has joined us for a week so we can get a look at him. We’d be looking at a loan deal if things work out.
“Nicky Ajose (of Peterborough) is away back south. We’re still thinking about him and I can state categorically it had nothing to do with Stevie May and Peterborough.”
Meanwhile, Wright is thrilled with the form of one of his team’s unsung heroes, Tom Scobbie.“He’s got fitter,” he said.
“He probably expected to play more games last season, and maybe because of that he let his standards drop a little bit and he wasn’t as fit as he should have been.
“But I told him in the summer when I got the job that he would be given the shirt. He’s responded very well. ”