The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Melamed hoping to be last piece of the jigsaw
Guy Me l a m e d is confident he can be the man to get St Johnstone on the goal trail. The 27- year- old’s oneyear deal with the Perth club has been confirmed.
A two- week period of quarantine kicked in for the Israeli forward at the weekend, making the home clash with Dundee United on October 24 the earliest he can make his Saints debut.
Melamed, who has a career total of 50 goals in 125 starts, hopes that he will be the last piece in manager Callum Davidson’s jigsaw as Saints strive to push up the Premiership table.
“I am very excited,” he said. “When I heard there was an offer from Scotland I totally wanted it and I’m excited for this.
“I hope I can help the team score goals and move up the table.
“I can move the ball very well. I will bring quality. I score goals. I can play the classic number nine position. I think I can bring some technique and movement. I hope I will bring goals – that is the most important thing.”
Financial problems at his previous club presented an opportunity in Scotland tha t Me lamed i s determined to seize.
“I had one year left with my team, Maccabi Netanya, and both sides decided to finish it,” he explained.
“I looked for something else in Europe and talked with my agent.
“He told me that he would check some options and he found St Johnstone. When I heard about this I was very happy.”
Davidson said: “He’s very excited and looking forward to the challenge. His enthusiasm as a person made me make the decision to try and get him. Guy’s a little bit unknown over here and has something to prove. From watching videos of him p l ay, I thought his movement in the box was very good.
“We had been looking to either go for a target man or someone to score goals, and I believe we have gone for the latter option.
“It’s difficult with the current situation but he will be in quarantine due to the rules.
“But once we have him in we will get him up to speed in training and we will get him involved with the boys. He’s lively and I hope he settles in well.”
Meanwhile, two Saints players left the club on deadline day.
Tanto Olaofe returned to Millwall after his seasonlong loan was cut short, while fellow striker John Robertson has been farmed out for three months to League One side Forfar.
The 19-year-old – a produc t of the Hear ts Academy system – spent last season on loan with League Two champions Cove Rangers.
Wa l l a c e D u f f y , meanwhile, whose release was confirmed on Sunday, has signed a two-year deal with Inverness Thistle
Celtic completed a deadline day loan swoop for AC Milan and Uruguay left-back Diego Laxalt.
The 27-year-old flew into Glasgow to complete a season-long deal less than three hours before Scot land ’s midnight transfer deadline.
The former Genoa player has won 24 caps for Uruguay and has been brought in to provide competition for Greg Taylor.
The Hoops sold 20-yearold forward Jack Aitchison – the c l u b’s youngest goalscorer at the age of 16 – to English League Two side Barnsley.
Steven Gerrard finally got his midfield wish as Rangers beat the transfer deadline to sign South Africa Bongani Zungu.
Gerrard has made little secret of his desire to add another option to his engine room but was made to wait until just two hours before last night’s midnight
Caledonian cut-off point to see a longr u n n i n g transfer saga involving Amiens ace Zungu finally come to fruition.
Gers had been linked with the 27-year-old powerhouse midfielder for much of the summer, with the Light Blues initially quoted a £4 million fee.
Ibrox sporting director Ross Wilson was able to negotiate a season- long loan, with the Light Blues holding an option to make the deal permanent next summer.
There was further good news for Gerrard with Alfredo Morelos expected to stay at Ibrox despite fresh speculation over his future with an unnamed Serie A club said to have failed in a loan bid for the Colombian.
Hearts’ Kirkcaldy-born youngs ter An thony McDonald joined Spanish outfit Cordoba on a twoyear deal. His move comes less than two weeks after Aaron Hickey joined Serie A side Bologna.