St Johnstone manager Steven MacLean has confirmed that Austrian midfielder, Sven Sprangler, will get a McDiarmid Park trial this week.
Sprangler spent four years in the top-flight with Wolfsberger, playing over 50 league games and five matches in Europe – a 2021 clash with Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League, among them.
He dropped down to the second tier with Verwarts Steyr to work his way back from an ankle injury and is now hoping to earn a deal with Saints.
“His name has been put to us so we’ve done our homework,” said MacLean, who is seeking to secure Newcastle United midfielder, Jay Turner-Cooke on a season-long loan.
“He certainly looks like he can play.
“He wants to come in and try and earn a contract so we’ll see how he looks.
“It’s always good when players back themselves.
“He wants to get a move in Europe.
“He’s got good pedigree and has played in some big games.”
Luke Robinson
Like Turner-Cooke, Wigan left-back Luke Robinson is set to join on loan.
“Luke has played quite a few games for Wigan then picked up an injury early on at Tranmere so that didn’t work out the way he’d hoped,” said MacLean.
“He’s a former Scotland under-19 international. Our analyst worked with the SFA so he’s been on his radar from that.
“The big thing for me is he’s played a decent amount of first team games since then.
“He’s played in League One and did well for Wigan.
“Luke is desperate to come here and get started. He can’t wait to be involved.
“With Callum Booth having been out for so long and Tony Gallacher injured, we needed to bring someone else in.
“I don’t want to be playing Andy (Considine) there so we had to go and get someone in.”
Minimise the gamble
MacLean added: “It’s really important to get players on loan who have played elsewhere.
“It makes it less of a gamble because they know what it’s all about.
“They’ve been in a different dressing-room, they’ve been taken out of their comfort zone and they know what to expect.
“We’ve seen that here with the loans we’ve had in the past. The ones who have had a season playing somewhere usually settle better.
“Adam Montgomery had been to Aberdeen before coming here and last season we saw the rapid progress he made.
“That has been the thinking with the loans we’ve brought in so far.”
Conversation