Simo Valakari’s two St Johnstone managerial predecessors were big fans of young star, Fran Franczak.
And the new Perth head coach has made it a hat-trick.
The fact Franczak has yet to feature under Valakari shouldn’t be mistaken for the local lad not being rated by the Finn.
Like Steven MacLean and Craig Levein before him, the McDiarmid Park boss has been greatly impressed by what he’s seen of the 17-year-old on the training ground.
He could also soon be faced with the same ‘keep or loan’ dilemma when the January transfer window opens.
“I think exactly the same,” said Valakari. “He is potentially a top player.
“What I like most is the work ethic, the energy, the desire to play football.
“I see all that.
“I have been hoping to give him some minutes but it’s not been possible yet.
“For him it’s important that he keeps his head down, that he works as he’s been working.
“Then, of course, he needs to play.
“Hopefully for St Johnstone first team or somewhere else.
“He needs to play adult football regularly to see where we are. Sometimes you end up so close to the first team that the manager wants to keep you here.
“You still need to play.
“Then comes this bit we need to be as clear as possible as a club – what is the best thing for the player? How do we see the player? Then we make a decision regarding Fran.
“If we see he will be our future first team player, then maybe we need to put him on loan for half a season playing the games.
“Then it comes to pre-season and he’s really pushing for the first team.
“I’m just speculating. We need to think about that.”
Best position
Most of Franczak’s football under Levein was played as a wing-back.
Valakari is convinced that the Poland under-18 international’s future career will be further in-field.
“I see Fran more as a midfielder,” he said. “Like a No.8.
“This box-to-box midfielder who has a lot of energy going up and down.
“He has this intensity to press. Actually, he’s very good with the ball and hardly loses it.
“He can go to the box scoring goals and things like that. I don’t see him much out wide.
“It’s more in the middle that he can go in many directions. On the side, sometimes this sideline can put a little pressure on him.
“Some players they are not feeling comfortable because they’ve got to go that way.
“Fran needs more room to go different ways, then it would be hard to play against him.”
Academy plans
Motherwell are the current example of ‘best in class’ when it comes to getting youth players into the first team and selling them for big transfer fees, with a price tag of at least £4 million understood to be placed on Lennon Miller.
Valakari believes doing something similar at McDiarmid will require “clear focus”.
“With the new owners now, especially how we are at the club, we need to get these academy players to come up,” he said.
“That’s why we sharpen up the academy things.
“We’re getting a good connection, talking every day about how we can change it.
“Of course, I’m not saying I need academy players in right now.
“But we need to be very clear with our focus what we want to achieve with the academy.
“We don’t have the money that we can bring the players. We need these players who can grow and we can sell, get money inside us.
“Motherwell is a good example.
“They’ve had their struggles but now it’s a very solid club, pushing for cup finals, European spots.
“It’s not that they have much more money than we have. We just need to run things in a good way, then it’s possible.”
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