Dundee will have a fight on their hands to sign released St Johnstone midfielder Ross Callachan

Dundee will have a fight on their hands to snap up Ross Callachan.

The midfielder has been released by St Johnstone and James McPake is understood to be keen to bring him back to Dens Park after being impressed with the former Raith Rovers and Hearts man in a short loan spell last season.

Callachan only played four times for the Dark Blues before he broke his leg against Partick Thistle in early February.

McPake, though, had already seen enough to make his mind up that the 26-year-old would go on to his list of summer transfer targets.

The Dundee manager isn’t the only admirer.

Saints caretaker boss Alec Cleland has revealed he’s taken a number of calls about Callachan and he believes the Kirkcaldy youth product may have the option of staying in the Premiership.

“A few managers have been asking me about Ross and I’ve spoken to him about that,” he said.

“I think he can stay in the top flight.

“He was getting games at Dundee and the injury was really unfortunate timing.

“He’s got a lot to offer.

“All his strengths are going forward. There are goals in Ross. He’s a good finisher with both feet and has good energy levels.

“Central midfield was a really strong area for us last season. He just couldn’t get a run of games because of the form of Ali (McCann), Spoony (David Wotherspoon), Murray (Davidson), Liam (Craig) and Jason (Holt). And we brought Matt (Butcher) in as well.”

Callachan should just be reaching the peak of his career. Two other Saints players released, Steven Anderson and Danny Swanson, may be nearer the end of theirs but Cleland believes the pair will both be “assets” to their next clubs.

“Steven falls into the same category as Tommy (Wright) for what he’s done for St Johnstone,” he said.

“It’s rare to see someone stay at a club as long as that these days. He’s been a great servant to Saints.

“The biggest thing I can say is that he was still training with the same intensity this season as he was five or 10 years ago.

“He’ll be an asset to whichever club he goes to next. He’s still got a lot to offer as a player.

“The same goes for Danny.

“The fact Tommy signed him three times says everything.

“He’d have been disappointed that he didn’t get much game-time last season but there was a lot of competition in his position as well.”

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