St Johnstone brought three loan defenders up from England last season, with all of them returning south half-way through the campaign.
Now another young centre-back, Alex Mitchell, has arrived at McDiarmid Park from Millwall.
And Perth boss Callum Davidson is hoping that, like success story Danny McNamara the year before, previous experience of league football will ensure the 20-year-old is better equipped to make a McDiarmid Park impact than Hayden Muller, Reece Devine and Lars Dendoncker.
“I saw Alex in some youth games at Millwall but I didn’t work with him directly,” said Davidson.
“We looked at him last summer when we were needing a centre-half but he was just a bit young then and needed games elsewhere.
👊 Fully deserved for Alex Mitchell…#Millwall pic.twitter.com/lYOaS6POK0
— Millwall FC (@MillwallFC) July 26, 2021
“He’s had that now and that’s vitally important.
“One of the things we saw last season was how important it is to have that experience of first team football before coming into a league like ours.
“He played every week at Leyton Orient in League Two so he’s got that experience of the highs and lows, playing in front of crowds and dealing with proper games.”
Making demands already
Davidson, who has allowed Dan Cleary to return to Ireland for family reasons, has been impressed with what he’s seen from Mitchell in training already.
“Alex is what you would describe as an old fashioned centre half who likes to head it and make tackles,” he said.
“He trained with us this morning and was right in the thick of it, shouting and making demands of people – which is great to see.”
Conversation