Tim Clancy has left the door open on a return to St Pat’s for Alfie Lewis.
The midfielder was a big hit with the Saints last season while on loan from West Ham and has been linked with an Inchicore comeback in recent days.
When his Hammers deal expired last summer, he signed a short-term deal at Richmond Park until the end of the year.
And Lewis, 22, went out with a bang by helping St Pat’s lift the FAI Cup before joining Plymouth Argyle in January.
But he has only made two substitute appearances for the League One club and both of those were in January.
Quizzed about Lewis yesterday, Saints boss Clancy said: “Alfie has signed a contract over at Plymouth for 18 months, I think.
“Listen, we're looking to strengthen in the window.
“We (the new management team) came in late in the close season and all the business was more or less done in League of Ireland clubs bar ourselves and Dundalk.
“We put a squad together and we know there are areas where we're possibly a little bit short and we'll certainly be looking at all sorts of options in the summer.
“There's the history that Alfie had with the club last year and he was an excellent player for us last year.
“It's a name we'll be linked with because he was here last year but it's definitely a part of the squad, in the middle, that we're looking to add to and maybe a few other positions.”
St Pat’s need to bolster their midfield options as Jamie Lennon is still out after surgery on a broken foot.
And while Clancy refused to say outright if he was in talks with Lewis, he admits that the player’s familiarity with the club would help.
Clancy added: “That’s the big thing, he has the connection with the League of Ireland and it's something you look at.
“The other side of it is we got Eoin Doyle in January and that was around his 40th game of the season (with Bolton) and we were only at the start of our season.
“When you have that amount of games behind you, it's something we have to manage coming into the summer period.
“It's a balancing act and something we take into account when we're recruiting players.”
