St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright insisted there have been no fresh offers made for star striker Stevie May and he would be happy to see it stay that way.
The 21-year-old’s 15-goal haul this season has seen him become Saints’ prize asset and the Perth club have already had to fend off the advances of English League One clubs Peterborough and Rotherham in recent months.
However, with the January transfer window now open, Saints fans could be forgiven for fearing that May could yet again be on the radar of other clubs.
With fellow forward Stevie MacLean still sidelined through injury and striking options limited, Wright sees keeping his top scorer at McDiarmid Park as a priority suggesting he will only leave if the price is right.
“The striking situation does make keeping hold of Stevie all the more important or, if Stevie goes early in the month, it gives you time and your resources will obviously improve because he’ll have gone for a sum of money,” he told Courier Sport.
“But there’s been nothing for Stevie and it’s all quiet. Unless the right offer comes in for the club and for the player, the club have been consistent on that and that hasn’t changed.
“But Stevie is happy here and he did say when he re-signed that he wanted to spend at least one season in the SPFL so I don’t think he’s in any rush to go.
“He knows there’s a lot to play for this season and we’re in a position where we can have a really good season.
“Of course we would have liked to have picked up more points over Christmas, as will half a dozen other clubs, but we do know and I do trust these players.
“They have been through the mill a lot and they know what it takes to get in that top six.”
Rotherham boss Steve Evans claimed back in November that he had been quoted £800,000 for striker May, almost three times the £300,000 offer tabled by the League One outfit.
That apparently ended Rotherham’s interest there and then, and Saints will be hoping their striker will stay put and bolster their top six push.
Saints moved to bring in Bolton striker Michael O’Halloran on an 18-month deal last week and Wright is keen to add another target man to his pool.
But he added: “I think it’s quite simple for us we need to get people out before we can bring people in and that hasn’t changed.
“We are looking, we are looking for a striker because I think that’s important, and I’ve met the chairman and put a few options to him.
“But, as always, and it’s the right thing to do, the finances have to be right for the club.”
The addition of O’Halloran may have eased the striker shortage slightly, although Wright recognises he still has the option of recalling Chris Kane early from his loan spell at Dumbarton.
However, it is understood Wright would rather see the in-form 19-year-old continue his progress at the Sons for the time being.
On the possibility of bringing him back early, Wright concluded: “We’ll see how Kano goes.
“He’s only a young lad and has learned his trade, and we thought it probably would have been better if we had got him out on loan before Christmas, maybe a month or two before, but we couldn’t do that.
“I see him every day in training and I have high hopes for him.
“But he needs to develop and he needs to go out and get games. There’s no point keeping him and bringing him off the bench for five minutes.
“It will be a balancing act if he goes away to Dumbarton and scores a lot of goals then that maybe changes things. But the important thing is for him to get out and play at a better level than what he’s been experiencing.”