St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright admits he would be interested in bringing Michael O’Halloran back to the club – but does not think Rangers would let him leave Ibrox.
Record Sport exclusively revealed last week that the jet-heeled winger was wanted by his former club.
The wide player has only made 18 starts since leaving Perth in a £500,000 deal almost a year ago, and recent reports suggested Rangers would allow him to leave on loan this month as they have signed midfielders Jon Toral and Emerson Hyndman.
But Wright said: “I don’t think Michael’s available for loan. If he was, that would be a player I would urge the chairman to go and try and sign for us, but Michael is under contract at Rangers.
“If there is going to be speculation about his future at Rangers it’s easy to see we would be a club that would be suited for him but there’s been nothing formal.”
Wright is focused on trying to extend the contracts of the likes of Brian Easton and Danny Swanson rather than adding to his squad.
The Saints boss said: “We’re looking but I can’t see anything happening. The strategy is to try and make sure we get everyone retained that we want to keep.
“We have lost the likes of Dave Mackay, Brad McKay and John Sutton who had to leave, and young players have left while they were all still under contract.
“There’s a cost to the club in that and that has to be factored in to everything we do.”