Saints striker’s Dons loan switch is a curious tale

It was one of the more curious deadline day transfer tales – the striker who couldn’t get a game for St Johnstone being coveted by two big city clubs above them in the Premiership table.

Aberdeen and Hibs fans were unable to grasp the logic of recruiting the fourth choice centreforward in a Perth squad toiling to find the net.

The tug-of-war for Fraser Hornby was the one they cared about. Callum Hendry, not so much.

It wasn’t just a curious deal from the perspective of who was trying to get the less-than-prolific frontman. It was far from the traditional-type loan from a Saints point of view also.

The fact that Aberdeen, who ended up securing Hendry before the window closed, were willing to pay a fee clearly proved to be a decisive factor.

But farming a player out to a larger club with higher expectations is rare, especially when that player has another year on his contract.

Boosting Hendry’s confidence in the Championship would have been the standard career plan.

From there, the reintegration of Hendry back at St Johnstone would have followed a tried and tested formula – player not getting game-time at parent club is welcomed home in the summer feeling better about himself and has a good shot at winning his place back.

What happens next will be every bit as intriguing as the decision to ‘loan up’ Hendry.

In terms of appearances for the Dons, his spell at Pittodrie has panned out pretty much as anticipated.

He has been used predominantly as a substitute, coming off the bench for eight of his nine appearances. That Hendry has scored a couple of goals as a replacement isn’t surprising either.

As Saints supporters will know, the role of impact sub produced the vast majority of his strikes. It was when he eventually became a regular starter that they stopped flowing.

The shock is that Hendry is the sole Aberdeen player to find the net in a footballing eternity.

It needed his late goal saw off Dumbarton in the Scottish Cup. And had it not been for that same goal and his header to defeat Kilmarnock in February, the Reds would have endured an utterly humiliating 11 barren matches in a row.

When caretaker manager Paul Sheerin takes the team for the last time before Stephen Glass’s quarantine period is over, at McDiarmid this weekend, Hendry won’t be allowed to play against his parent club. The fixture couldn’t have been scheduled for a worse time, as he would surely have had a good chance of starting.

Hendry will soon have a new boss to impress – and a new strikers’ coach in Allan Russell who has worked with England’s finest – in what remains of the season.

And for 2021-22, all options remain open.

Hendry could finish the season strongly, catch the Glass eye, and the Dons then decide to make a bid to sign him permanently. You would imagine there would be a deal to be done in those circumstances.

The second scenario is that Aberdeen line up other targets but Hendry feels he would rather try a fresh adventure than return to Perth and he moves on to a new club.

The third way is Hendry walks back into the Saints dressing-room for preseason with his head held high, having scored important goals for Aberdeen.

For that to happen, I suspect Guy Melamed will have to leave.

It was clear from the long run of starts Hendry got with Saints in the early months of the season (eight in a row) that he wasn’t, and is unlikely to ever be, a lone striker option for Callum Davidson.

In hindsight, it was extremely unfortunate for him that he was never included in a starting line-up alongside Chris Kane. They were only a partnership in the Betfred Cup against Kelty Hearts and Dundee United.

If he plays for Saints again it would have to be in tandem with Kane, or somebody in that mould, because it is by no means certain Davidson’s only true hold-up centre-forward will be staying either.

It is unrealistic to think Hendry will be retained as back-up for Melamed. Or that he would be happy with that.

Melamed has scored goals of all shapes and sizes but we were saying the same about Hendry when he became the Saints top scorer last season and was heading for double figures when the campaign was prematurely curtailed.

The Israeli has the exquisite over-the-shoulder touch and finish to get a late draw at Hamilton as his signature goal for the Perth side and the son of Braveheart has the back post, chest and left-foot half-volley to beat the same team the year before.

You can picture Hendry scoring Melamed’s winner at Dens Park on Saturday and vice versa for the Aberdeen goal at Dumbarton earlier that afternoon.

Davidson has acknowledged that the recruit from Maccabi Netanya making his firstteam breakthrough at the turn of the year was the key reason for Hendry’s end of January departure.

There are too many permutations and possibilities for the Saints manager to give a definitive answer on what will happen in the close-season as far as Hendry is concerned, or any of his strikers for that matter.

Ironically, he is the only one of the four senior central attackers under contract for another year.

There is still a pathway for him to be a Saints favourite again. Just don’t expect to see him in the same team as the current one.

RED ALERT: Callum Hendry has scored twice since his loan move to Aberdeen and will have a decision to make over his future.