St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright admits finding a 15-goal-a-season striker is his main summer quest.
Tony Watt was St Johnstone’s top goalscorer last season with eight goals, but only scored twice after August and only three times in the league.
Winger Matty Kennedy (six) and midfielder Blair Alston (four) out-scored strikers David McMillan (two), Chris Kane (three) and Callum Hendry (two) in the league.
Saints managed exactly one goal a game on average in the Ladbrokes Premiership – scoring less than Motherwell and Livingston, who finished below them in the league.
And Wright knows a prolific marksman could make all the difference next season.
Wright told Press Association Sport: “The main priority for me is to find a striker. That’s not just this club, it’s every club. But we are probably looking at a lot of the same players.
“In the last 10 years there has probably been three or four occasions at the most that we have had strikers who have scored more than 15 goals. (Stevie) May’s season of 27 was incredible, (Steven) MacLean hit 15 goals one season and before that (Fran) Sandaza was the only one.
“Historically that has been the problem for our club, is getting a striker who can score 15-plus goals in a season, and I’m talking league goals.
“So that is my main priority and I’m prepared to wait for it.”
Watt has now moved on to CSKA Sofia while McMillan is free to find a new club after returning from a loan spell at Hamilton.
Wright said: “McMillan will come back but his situation hasn’t changed, he is available. I imagine he is wanting to come back and prove a point.
“We have Kane and Hendry, who has got a big future. I have (Michael) O’Halloran who can play up front. So unless we feel we have the right one, the striker is probably one where we wait and see what options we have.”
