ALLY McCOIST concedes there’s possibly only scope to bring in one more centre-half after he was unable to offer trialist Sam Kelly a deal at Rangers. The former Norwich and Everton midfielder showed up well during his training spell at Murray Park recently. But McCoist’s budget will only stretch so far and he has had to allow the teenager to move on, with a couple of other Scottish teams now interested in him. A bigger priority for the manager is recruiting a central defender and he currently has two on his radar. Bosnian stopper Boris Pandza is a player whose representative Gers have been in constant discussions with for a number of weeks. Former Hearts captain Marius Zaliukas has also begun working at Auchenhowie, having come in last Thursday. McCoist has been impressed with the Lithuanian, who spent seven years at Tynecastle before leaving the Jambos when his contract expired last season. But he knows the likelihood is he’ll have to make a choice between Zaliukas and Pandza given he has already brought in eight other players and wants to sign keeper Steve Simonsen. McCoist said: “I’ve obviously made it clear we’d love to bring in a centre-half and Marius has done really, really well. “He says he hasn’t done an awful lot lately but you wouldn’t know it to look at him because he is certainly in good shape. “Marius has come in to train with us and is a very fit lad. Obviously himself and Boris are two players we’ve been looking at and I’m very keen to strengthen that department. “I’m not sure if there’s a budget for both and I would need to speak to Craig (Mather) about that. He’s very aware of our concerns about getting another centre-back in. “We couldn’t afford to offer Sam a deal so that would possibly indicate we’d be looking at getting one centre-half in.” McCoist liked watching Kelly during his stint at Rangers but had admitted previously he’d be a luxury player in the sense he played in an area which didn’t need strengthening. He added: “It’s a big disappointment for us because he came in and showed up really well. He’s got a lovely left foot and is a smashing lad who mixed in well with the rest of the boys. “We’d have liked to have offered him something short-term for perhaps a year but it wasn’t to be and he’s away to train at one or two other clubs up here now. “He’ll certainly go there with our best wishes and an endorsement to sign with any of them because he’s a talented player.” John
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 10:02:37 +0000
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