Kyle’s style can earn a big money move, says Goodwin

Jim Goodwin can think of nothing worse than having to sell Kyle Magennis.

But the St Mirren manager wants his young skipper to produce the same kind of performances that earned Kenny McLean and John McGinn big money moves.

Magennis has already been entrusted with the armband in the absence of usual club captain Stephen McGinn.

And Goodwin reckons the midfielder has all the talents necessary to take his career to the next level.

From a selfish point of view, he wants the Scotland U- 21 international to remain a Buddie for the foreseeable future.

But having seen the likes of McLean and John McGinn star in the English Premier League over the last seven days, Goodwin reckons Magennis boasts all the necessary attributes to join them if he can have a season of staying fully fit.

Goodwin said: “It’s a big season for Kyle after his injury problems in the past year. I had a conversation with him during pre-season in Spain and told him I can see him emulating the likes of John McGinn and Kenny McLean. Why not? That’s the belief he has to have in his own ability.

“He’s been playing out on the right-hand side but can also play centrally. And he deserves to have the captain’s armband.

“He’s got a great attitude in training. And if he continues with the sort of performances that he’s shown in the past couple of weeks you’d expect there to be plenty of interest in Kyle as well. But he has to work on his fitness.

“He has to get in that gym to work on his fitness levels and also do more injury prevention stuff. We need to get him off the treatment table and get a number of games under his belt that will make him stronger physically. Technically, he has all the skills that you need.

“I can see the parallels with John and Kenny, guys I played with. He’s comfortable on the ball, he’s got great energy levels and decent pace. He showed great awareness and composure for the goal last weekend. A lot of players would just have whipped that across the face and hoped someone would get on the end of it. But he’s seen out the corner of his eye Ilkay Durmus making that run into the box. Good players see those things. Average players don’t.”

Goodwin starred alongside McLean and McGinn during his own playing days at the club.

And having seen first-hand the work done by the club’s youth system, the manager is delighted to now be reaping the rewards.

Goodwin added: “He’s another great product of the academy here that’s been really important to this club over the years. We’re not in a rush to get rid of him but the more performances he puts in like last Sunday, people will come knocking.”

It’s a big season for Kyle after his injury problems