The door hasn’t been shut on Eetu Vertainen at St Johnstone, according to Callum Davidson.
Even though the Finnish under-21 international has returned to Linfield for a full season loan, the Perth boss has pledged that it won’t be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
And the Callum Hendry story in the second half of the last campaign is the proof that opportunity can knock when you least expect it to.
“It was a tough time for Eetu after he came across here,” said Davidson.
“He probably didn’t perform as well as he would have wanted to.
“It’s important he goes and plays games and really understands the British game.
“He’s really keen to do that.
"𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙛𝙛 & 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝, 𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨"
We caught up with Eetu Vertainen shortly after he returned to @OfficialBlues for another loan spell with the club
Full Interview below ⤵️https://t.co/pvn1xS7FTN pic.twitter.com/d5xor1SXYi
— Linfieldtv (@Linfieldtv) July 1, 2022
“I always say to players that things change so quickly in football.
“We’ve got Liam Craig now looking at all our loan players.
“Liam will be watching him and keeping a close eye on how he’s getting on.
“It’s not a case of him moving to Linfield and that’s that.
“That will be the same with all our loan players – we’ll be keeping on top of how they’re developing.
“It’s about getting the best player we can get at St Johnstone at the right time.”
Development squad
Meanwhile, Davidson is keen to bridge the gap between his first team and the McDiarmid Park youth academy.
“We’re trying to introduce a development squad,” he said.
“18, 19 and 20 is a very important age to get lots of games into players.
“They’ve missed out a lot in the last couple of years.
“The likes of Ali McCann, Jason Kerr and Zander Clark came through the ranks after playing these games.
“We took three lads with us to Spain – Taylor (Steven), Spencer (Moreland) and Liam (Parker).
“It was a great opportunity for them.
“It would be nice to give them game-time in the right environment.”
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