Lee Croft is on the brink of rejoining St Johnstone, with talks between player and club at an advanced stage.
Croft, who had a successful spell on loan from Derby County during the latter part of season 2011-12, could even feature in Tuesday night’s home under-20 game against Motherwell.
The deal would be for the rest of this season but he will need to catch up on match fitness given that he has been without a club since leaving Oldham in the summer.
The finer details in the paperwork have still to be finalised but Saints boss Tommy Wright last night appeared confident of getting his man.
Wright said: “Ideally we would like the deal agreed and international clearance secured in time to get Lee a game against Motherwell. We are very hopeful we can get this over the line.
“I sat down with Lee on Friday and we discussed the possibility of him staying to the end of the season initially and maybe even beyond.
“He has been talking it over with his agent and the signs have been very positive. Hopefully it can be sorted out quickly.”
“But he isn’t ready to go straight into the first team and he needs game time to get up to speed. He had a good week’s training here and enjoyed himself.
“He knows the area and the club from his previous loan spell here from Derby so settling in won’t be a problem. But, as I say, he isn’t ready for first-team football after missing pre-season and the first three months of the season.
“In the circumstances, we have tried to strike a deal which is fair to him and to the club, giving him an incentive to extend his stay here.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing in football but there was an opportunity of a two-year deal here last summer.”
Meanwhile, Rotherham United appear to have dropped their interest in Saints striker Stevie May after claiming the Perth club have put an £800,000 price tag on the Scotland Under-21 striker.
They tabled a bid for May last week but seem to have been scared off by Saints’ valuation.
Manager Steve Evans said: “We offered £300,000 and were quoted £800,000. That price is out of our range.
“We left our offer on the table and asked them to get back to us and they haven’t so I have to assume they value him at that amount.
“People in football are only worth what people are willing to pay and St Johnstone are entitled to price him up as they see fit,” headded.