New St Mirren defender Ryan Strain has the potential to be a “big coup” for the Paisley club.
That’s the opinion of boss Stephen Robinson after persuading the flying full back to leave Isreali giants Maccabi Haifa and join his new-look Saints.
The 25-year-old defender, who started his career at English Premier League side Aston Villa, is one of seven summer recruits so far as Robinson builds his squad.
Having played in four Europa Conference League qualifiers last season, as well as making ten top flight appearances for Maccabi Haifa who went on to win the Israeli Premier League, Robinson believes Strain adds some serious quality to his defensive options.
Speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport, Robinson said: “I think Strain will be an excellent signing for us.
“Maccabi Haifa paid good money to bring him over from Australia and it’s a really big coup for us to get him.
“He’s a very dynamic full-back with a lot of quality on the ball.
“He’s versatile too which gives me an option to play him as part of a back four or a back five too, which is ideal.”
Born in England, Strain has international experience with Australia having moved over to Adelaide in 2015 to join the Modbury Jets.
He progressed up to top flight side Adelaide United, which helped him win call-ups to the Australian Under-23 team before eventually making the senior squad last year.
A hamstring injury put paid to his chances of picking up his first cap last August, with Strain’s season with Maccabi Haifa also hampered by recent injury problems.
Robinson admits fans will have to give Strain time to impress as he gets himself back up to full speed, although the full back did look sharp and picked up a first assist in the club’s opening 3-0 pre-season friendly win over Crusaders on Monday night.
Robinson said: “He’s an exciting addition, but the fans need to be patient with him because he hasn’t played an awful lot of football since January.
“We’ll need to build him up carefully, but once he’s fully fit we’re confident he’ll be a very good player for us this season.”
Robinson is more than pleased with the club’s summer recruitment so far, with the overwhelming majority of their new faces arriving for free.
The Saints manager would still like to squeeze one more addition out of the budget though.
Robinson added: “Every manager always wants more players in, but there’s only so far the budget can stretch.
“A lot of players were already contracted for this season, so what we’ve had left of the budget to work with we’ve managed and manipulated really well.
“We’ve added pace, power and creativity which are things we were lacking at times last season.
"To get one more in would be great, but we’ll have to wait and see if we can make that happen or not.”
