Keanu Baccus: St Mirren boss addresses transfer speculation amid English interest

Stephen Robinson has stated his intention to keep Keanu Baccus at St Mirren beyond the January transfer window amid reports of transfer interest from clubs in England.

Keanu Baccus has been attracting attention for his performances in black and white this season.

The Buddies boss is not surprised that Baccus is attracting outside attention and accepts a move is inevitable in time. The 24-year-old Australian is reportedly being monitored by English Championship pair Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town. Baccus has impressed since joining the Paisley side from Western Sydney Wanderers in the summer and is hopeful of playing his way into the Socceroos squad for the Qatar World Cup.

“He has been terrific, a bundle of energy, a breath of fresh air since he came in,” said Robinson. “It is absolutely no surprise that people are looking at him. We are a club that unfortunately have to sell players. It doesn’t make my job any easier but that is what the job comes with. I have no doubt that at some stage Keanu will go and play at a higher level but – at the minute – we are desperate to keep him. In an ideal world you want to keep all your players and build on them with more players.

“Unfortunately that doesn’t happen unless someone wants to put £20million into the football club. We have to make sure we have enough money to keep going. It is the model the club is built on, like a lot of the clubs in the Premiership. We accept that, you don’t go about moaning about it. You have to have other options to replace people all the time so we are well prepared for that and hopefully we don’t lose anyone in this window and keep the squad intact.”

Manager Stephen Robinson has been linked with the vacancy at Northern Ireland.

Baccus is not the only figure at St Mirren subject to speculation but Robinson insists he is not paying “much attention” to talk linking him to the job as Northern Ireland national team manager, a post which is vacant following the departure of Ian Baraclough. He said: “I think every time the job has come up I have been favourite for the job. I can assure you there has been no contact as I said previously and my full focus is on here at this moment in time.”