St Mirren chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick believes that Rangers and Celtic will have set their sights on goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky after an impressive run of form at the Paisley club.
Hladky, 28, joined the Buddies from Slovan Liberec in January and went on to help his side avoid instant relegation from the Scottish Premiership, before earning survival in the play-off against Dundee United.
The Czech Republic shot-stopper saved three penalties as Oran Kearney’s men won 2-0 in a penalty shoot-out against the Championship promotion hopefuls.
Since that performance between the sticks, Fitzpatrick has heaped praise on Hladky and claims that the goalkeeper might even be too good for the Scottish top-flight.
“There are teams from Russia and other countries already interested in signing Vaclav and I’m not surprised as he is top quality,” Fitzpatrick said, as quoted by the Daily Record.
“He’s capable of playing a level much higher than the Premiership . I would think Celtic and Rangers must be looking at him too and thinking he could do a job for them. He’s a big-game player and such a find for us.
“We want to keep him. The boy loves it here. He’s got a year on his contract so we want to keep him and even extend his deal.
“Gems like this don’t come around too often. So we want him to be playing for us next season.”
OPINION
Is Fitzpatrick trying to arouse some interest in Hladky here? Because it definitely seems like he is talking up a move for the Eastern European colossus. The 6ft 4 [transfermarkt] had a good end to the season with St Mirren, but to suggest he could be too good for the Scottish Premiership is a major overstatement. Hladky is a decent shot-stopper and would definitely be a decent signing for either Rangers or Celtic, but would he realistically oust Allan McGregor and Scott Bain from their No 1 spots at each of the Glasgow rivals? Possibly not. Hladky has just one year left on his contract with St Mirren and this could be the last transfer window where the Buddies get to make some cash off their in-form goalkeeper. He is bound to attract some interest after that massive display in the Premiership play-off, but Fitzpatrick is barking up the wrong tree if he thinks one of the Old Firm clubs will take his bait.