St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson has revealed that the club are in discussions with in-form striker Mikael Mandron over a deal that would see him remain at the club beyond the summer.
Mandron’s existing contract expires at the end of the season, and he’s free to talk to other clubs about his future. But the 30-year-old has been in fine form recently, and Robinson is keen to see him remain in Paisley.
The last six goals have seen the striker find the back of the net five times, including the opening goal in the famous win over Rangers at Ibrox, and an instinctive finish against Hearts on Wednesday.
The St Mirren boss joked that Mandron, who had just one goal for the season prior to his recent run, had found new motivation.
“We’ve offered him a new contract so he’s decided he’s going to start scoring more goals and get more money off us,” Robinson joked. “I’m sure that’s his ploy.
“No, Mika is a very important part of the squad. Even when he’s not scoring, he brings people into the game and he’s a character around the dressing room as well.
“He’s a really intelligent footballer.
“He’s added goals to his game in the last month and we’re sure he’ll continue to do that.
“I’m hopeful for everybody to sign but everyone has options. We’re speaking actively to Mika and two other players in the squad and trying to get business done.”
Robinson has made a change to his attacking approach in the last two games, with top scorer Toyosi Olusanya starting on the bench and Jonah Ayunga playing off Mandron.
Ayunga came off against Hearts with an ankle injury that’s likely to rule him out of Saturday’s home game against Celtic. Robinson has sympathy for the forward and also explained his thinking over how he has been utilising his forwards.
“Mika and Jonah have looked good together and caused teams real, real problems,” he said. “And then Toyosi coming off the bench gives us that energy that we maybe lacked from the bench.
“He gives us that energy and pace when people are tired.
“So it’s very disappointing for Jonah because he’s had lots of injury problems with his knee and he is just coming back to form.
“There was a little bit of interest in Jonah in the window, so his mind was obviously a little bit mixed about what he wanted. But now his head is clear and is focused on earning a contract here and playing really well and he’s been doing that.
“That’s a blow. We have another couple of weeks until the next game after this one so hopefully he’ll be back for that.”
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