Callum Davidson insists Celtic loanee Adam Montgomery will go far in football - he just hopes not too far when his St Johnstone deal runs out next month.
Saints will be without Montgomery against his parent club on Saturday but Davidson is keeping his fingers crossed the Hoops will extend the loan until the end of the season.
The 20-year-old has made 16 appearances for Saints since agreeing a temporary deal in the summer.
And Davidson reckons the youngster’s attacking threat from left-back has been a key weapon in their six-game unbeaten run that’s shot Saints into the top five.
Talks over an extension will begin after Saturday’s clash in Glasgow and, while Davidson is happy to let John Mahon head out on loan with Sligo Rovers and Hamilton among the interested clubs, he’s desperate not to lose Montgomery.
Davidson said: “Adam has performed well, I thought he’s got better and better.
“We’ve seen that in training, he’s really improved.
“We need to assess everything, see where we are with each player and make a decision after that.
“And obviously speak to Celtic because it might be a ‘no’ anyway. But I’m really pleased with how Adam has performed.
“Celtic been happy and just let us get on with it, really. He’s played games. We’d have had more phone calls if he hadn’t been playing.
“He’s managed to pick himself for the team because of his performances, it’s not me playing him because he’s a Celtic player.
“His attitude in training and around the place has been first class. The young man has got a big future, hopefully he’ll go far.
“There’s obviously a conversation we’ll need to have. We haven’t spoken to them before the game this week.
“It’s something we can speak about after and see where we are about it.”
Record Sport told yesterday how Irish defender Mahon’s former club Sligo were keen to take the 23-year-old back on loan in January with Hamilton also eyeing a move.
The big stopper has yet to feature in the Premiership this season and Davidson is keen to get him game time - but would rather that happens in Scotland than back in his homeland.
He said: “It’s important he goes and gets games. Ideally I’d like him to go to a Scottish team with a view to coming back here. We didn’t bring him in just to let him go.
“He struggled a little bit at the start of the season with chances to play. But he performed really well the last game of the season here under pressure.
“There is potential there, there’s a player there, we just need to find it and get the best out of him.
“There’s a couple of clubs in Ireland, a couple in Scotland, interested. It’s important we get him out playing games.
“And I’d say if he went to the Championship in Scotland to play we’d get a true reflection and see where he is.
“He’s played in Ireland already. But what’s right for both parties counts and ultimately it comes down to the player.”
Davidson anticipates the January transfer window will involve more outs than ins at McDiarmid Park with Dundee showing interest in midfielder Charlie Gilmour who is currently on loan at Cove Rangers and out of contract in the summer.
Davidson said: “I speak to Jim McIntyre a lot about Charlie. It’s about how much he progresses. He is out of contract, I’d imagine his agent will be working hard for him as agents do.
“I will have a chat with Charlie to see where we are.
“We’re sitting with a good healthy squad. There’s probably going to be more outs than ins.
“We will look at maybe one or two players to come in to make a real big difference and try and push us to fight for positions higher.
“But I am quite happy with the squad. We’ve Callum Booth, David Wotherspoon returning and hopefully Chris Kane return pretty soon so there’s kind of new players coming in to help the squad.
“If anyone leaves, we are ready to go and get someone in.”
