The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Ciftci will bring ‘heart’ to Saints
Nadir Ciftci will bring “heart” and “magic” to the St Johnstone team, according to Callum Davidson.
And the Perth boss has revealed the former Dundee United hero is already showing signs on the training ground that he will be a vital part of a second half of the season Saints’ Premiership surge.
It is not just the goals Ciftci can bring his new team that excites Davidson – it is the goals he could help create for others.
“Nadir is a clever player,” said the Mcdiarmid Park manager. “He can link the game and get into the box to score goals.
“When we get him going he will be a big asset. He’s only 29 even though he looked about that age when he was with Dundee United.
“He’s capable of producing a bit of magic and his scoring record when he was at Tannadice was excellent.
“He plays with his heart. He’s got something to prove coming back to Scotland and wants to be a success.
“Speaking to him, he had no hesitation about coming here because he wanted to come back to this league.
“He knows where we are, he knows what we need to do and everything he said was right for me.
“It’s good he’s played in the league before. That’s massively important to us.
“Nadir has looked very good in training so far. He’s had some hard sessions and you can see his quality with the ball.”
Ciftci is viewed as a footballing maverick but Davidson sees him very much in the team player mould.
“We need to get the right players around him, supply to him and get him linking up with people,” he pointed out.
“We need to use his intelligence, use the way he creates space and get the ball into the box for him.
“For me, we haven’t held the ball up well enough in the first half of the season and that hasn’t allowed the more attacking players to get involved as much as we need them to.
“So rectifying that was something I thought would be very important this month and hopefully in Nadir we have someone who can be that player.
“I can see him bringing the best out of the players around him.
“I’ve already seen players in training starting to see what he does and working out how they can benefit from the attributes he’s got.
“Getting fresh faces through the door gives everyone a lift and hopefully we can get at least a couple more by next Tuesday.
“We want to emerge from January with a stronger, more competitive squad.
“There will be players disappointed when we’re finished in January but that’s football and the challenge will then be for them to fight for places.”