St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright has issued a strong hands-off warning to any club contemplating making a bid for star man Michael O’Halloran in the January transfer window.
The manager is insistent the 24-year-old, who has been in scintillating form for Saints this season and netted his second goal in a week against Hamilton on Saturday, is not for sale.
Wright, who said after the League Cup win over Morton last Tuesday night that he believed O’Halloran was the best player in Scottish football at the moment, has discussed the situation with club chairman Steve Brown and they are both determined to keep hold of the player for the foreseeable future.
The manager said: “Michael is not for sale unless we get an unbelievable offer for him. Even then it would have to be right for the player because he is happy here and signed an extension recently to 2017.
“It is quite simple. I have spoken to the chairman and we will not be encouraging offers for Michael in January. That tells you how highly we rate him.
“He is attracting attention and rightly so because of the form he is showing. But we want to keep him here.
“We are not in a position where we have to sell players in January. The club is sound financially and that puts us in a strong position.
“I’m sure at some stage Michael could have the pick of two or three clubs if he maintains his current progress.
“But our plan is to hold onto him. He just signed a deal in the summer but we will look at the possibility of extending it.”
Meanwhile, Wright revealed that Simon Lappin is set to go under the knife to cure a groin problem.
The 32-year-old midfielder has been playing through the pain barrier recently and the manager is keen for him to have the op now ahead of the impending international break.
Wright said: “Simon has been excellent for us but he has had problems with his groin for a while now. It shows the character of the player that he has played through it.
“His level of performance has been good and he will be a miss.
“It has been painful and Simon had been getting through training and games with the aid of painkillers. But we didn’t want that to continue long term and this has been planned for a couple of weeks.
“It was important to get through the recent Morton cup tie, particularly with Chris Millar being out. But Midge is coming back now so that helps in terms of numbers.
“We just felt the time was right to get a tidy-up operation with the international break coming up after the weekend game with Kilmarnock.
“He is looking at anything up to five weeks out depending on how much work the surgeon has to do. By getting surgery now it should limit the number of games Simon will miss.”
Despite Lappin’s impending absence, Wright admitted he is delighted with the depth and quality of the squad at his disposal.
Saturday’s 4-2 win at Hamilton was achieved without suspended skipper Dave Mackay, Millar and top goalscorer Steven MacLean as Saints secured what was their fifth away win in a row.
He added: “We went to Aberdeen with players missing and again on Saturday was another example of how strong the squad is.
“Mackay was suspended, MacLean couldn’t play because of the pitch and Millar was still out injured. There’s three big players and we still go and put in a really good performance.
“When you’re on a run sometimes it doesn’t register but that’s five away wins in a row.
“We won’t get carried away because we know how difficult it is.”