Stephen Robinson discusses difficult market as St Mirren close in on Jalmaro Calvin signing

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson admits it becoming harder to find untapped markets in the transfer window as the club nears a second signing from Jamaica.

Following the signing of defender Richard King, the Paisley side are poised to sign his former Cavalier teammate Jalmaro Calvin, with only paperwork holding up the deal.

Under Robinson, the team has finished in the top six of the Premiership in three successive seasons, thanks partly to shrewd transfer business that has seen the club pick up players from Ireland and Australia as well as England.

As the Calvin deal enters its final stage, he admits that to continue getting value and compete with sides that have bigger budgets, it’s essential to look at places Scottish clubs haven’t traditionally recruited from if they want to unearth gems.

“We’re running out [of new markets], if the truth be told,” Robinson said.

“The market in Jamaica is producing a lot of good, good players. A lot of kids go to America to play in MLS.

“It’s a market we looked closely from January and it was my agent that put me into that. Hopefully we’ve got two players out of it.

“Markets like Northern and southern Ireland are difficult now because those teams are paying equal money to what we are, and more.

“So it’s hard to stay ahead of it but we have to. We’ve no choice because we don’t have millionaire backers or someone with a magic wand.

“We buy a player with potential and good attributes and we try and develop them.

“I made the point that we lost five of our starting line-up and those boys have gone to £6,000 or £7,000 a week when they came in here on £600 or £700.

“We’re not replacing them like-for-like, we’re replacing them right back at the start of the cycle again with the likes of Jalmaro or Richard.

“There’s Richard Taylor who developed and is on a heck of a lot of money at a big club like Bolton. Caolan Boyd-Munce is the same.

“We’re now at the back of the cycle again where we develop those players.

“It takes time and patience.”

Speaking about Calvin, who scored 39 times in 101 games for Cavalier, Robinson said he could bring pace and energy to the front line.

“We’re hoping we complete that today or early next week,” the manager said. “Jalmaro is somebody we’ve liked for a long time. We’ve good connections with Cavalier, who won the league in Jamaica and are producing really good, fast, quality players.

“Jalmaro is somebody that we liked and he got young player of the CONCACAF (Caribbean Cup) tournament. He’s something different with real pace and energy in wider areas and through the middle.

“We’re just waiting for paperwork now but nothing is done until it’s done in football.”