Belgian club Oud-Heverlee Leuven are leading the race to sign St Johnstone striker, Benji Kimpioka.
Courier Sport understands the Perth club have accepted a bid of nearly £200,000 for their top scorer.
Since it became clear that Kimpioka wasn’t interested in opening contract talks to stay at McDiarmid Park beyond the summer, a January move for the former Swedish under-21 international was always on the cards.
And the fact that the 24-year-old’s form has dropped off over recent weeks increased the chances of the Perth club being opening to a mid-season move.
Kimpioka has only scored once in the last 13 games and was an unused substitute for the clash with Motherwell on Saturday, with Makenzie Kirk starting and Adama Sidibeh and Taylor Steven given game-time instead of him.
Manager Simo Valakari said on Thursday that he expected concrete interest to emerge this week.
“We knew that no-one would come in at the start of January,” he said. “But that it would be the end of the month when some teams see: ‘We need a striker now’.
“Or they see that it’s the end of the window and there are only a few months of the contract left and maybe they think they can get a little off the price for him.
“I can almost guarantee that there will be something.”
Clubs in Switzerland and Israel registered an interest earlier in the month but OHL, currently 12th in the Belgian pro League, are the only ones to come up with a transfer fee acceptable to Saints.
No bids have been made from England, despite rumours of a Blackburn Rovers interest.
OHL boss Chris Coleman was the first manager to introduce Kimpioka to first team training when he was in charge at Sunderland.
Busy last week of January transfer window
It’s set to be a hectic end to the transfer window at McDiarmid.
Jack Sanders is expected to head south to Gillingham but another English club entering the race for the defender’s signature can’t be discounted.
Andre Raymond is the subject of interest from a Russian second tier side and Fulham are set to sign young striker Brodie Dair.
Matt Smith and Cammy MacPherson are available for transfer, while Dunfermline Athletic have been linked with a loan move for Aaron Essel.
Daniels Balodis has been confirmed as Saints’ latest signing, with another centre-half likely to join him, possibly Leeds youngster Kris Moore.
A winger is a priority recruit and Valakari will have to decide whether he wants a Kimpioka replacement in this window and be ready to react to any further exits.
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