REUNION EXACTLY WATT BOSS WANTED
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St Mirren were last night closing in on a transfer deadline day loan deal for former Celtic, Hearts and Motherwell striker Tony Watt.
The nomadic forward, who has also enjoyed spells in England, Wales, Bulgaria and Belgium throughout his eventful career, joined Dundee United last January after a prolific spell at Fir Park.
But after falling out of favour at Tannadice this season, the experienced 29-year-old has been on the hunt for a new club this transfer window.
And the lure of working with Stephen Robinson again as the Saints push for a top-six spot and European football looked enough last night for the Scotland international to pick Paisley ahead of a return to Motherwell or Belgium outfit KV Oostende.
It’s believed Saints’ initial loan approach was turned down before a second improved offer was made to land Watt, who made his name as an 18-year-old by scoring the winning goal in Celtic’s famous 2-1 win over Barcelona at Parkhead in 2012.
The Buddies were also hoping to beat the deadline last night and complete a loan move for talented young full-back Thierry Small from English Premier League side Southampton.
Tottenham were keen on a permanent deal for the former Everton youth product —who had a spell on loan at Port Vale earlier in the season — but the English Saints wanted to keep him on their books, preferring to see the England Under-18 international make a temporary move to pick up more experience before returning to St Mary’s.
The Saints were also linked with a move for highly-rated Rangers midfielder Alex Lowry. The creative 19-yearold has been attracting attention from several clubs after it emerged he would be allowed to leave Ibrox to gain some experience elsewhere in the second half of the season.
St Mirren were able to pursue possible new signings yesterday thanks to the expected departures of midfield duo Ethan Erhahon and Dylan Reid.
Erhahon, who had been with the club since he was five years old, completed a medical yesterday morning ahead of his £300,000 switch to
Lincoln City.
With less than six months on his contract, and with the Paisley side only due training compensation if he moved to an English club at the end of the season, the Buddies decided to allow the Scotland Under-21 cap to make the move to the League One side.
Fellow academy talent Reid was set to join English Premier League outfit Crystal Palace —as long as he passed his own medical a t
Selhurst Park.
The clubs were understood to have agreed a six-figure fee with add-ons.
At the beginning of yesterday’s hectic deadline day, Robinson wished the youngsters well, telling Express Sport: “I’m delighted for both boys. Ethan will be a huge loss because he’s arguably been one of my best players all season.
“He’s been a pleasure to work with but opportunities arise. Ethan was out of contract and because of the circumstances we find ourselves in financially, it was good business on behalf of the club.
“Ethan has played a lot of games and is at a great age.
“Dylan is still just a young boy that we spent a lot of time working with over the last six months. We felt he was getting to a stage where he was ready for the first team.
“We put him on against Hearts and he looked like a man.
“But Premier League clubs are paying for potential now and that’s what Dylan has. He’s got lots of it and Crystal Palace have conducted themselves very well throughout the transfer, which has to be credited.”