Buddies boss Stephen Robinson hopes academy star Murray Campbell will continue his development in Paisley.
But he refused to put pressure on the 15-year-old to sign on the dotted line with several English Premier League clubs, including Southampton and Leicester City, also courting the talented defender’s services.
Scotland under-16 international Campbell made his third pre-season appearance on Tuesday night, coming on as a second half substitute in the Saints’ 3-1 defeat to Northampton.
And while he showed his understandable inexperience by giving away a penalty that led to the visitors’ third goal, St Mirren manager Robinson believes the prospect has a very bright future ahead of him.
Robinson told Express Sport: “Murray Campbell at 15 years of age got on and was getting a wee lesson from an older pro about not making contact in the box, so it’s a brilliant learning curve for all our young players.
“There’s no latest news about him, he’s coming on and playing in our first-team.
“He’s a kid we rate very, very highly and he’s still only a baby at 15 years of age.
“So he won’t be involved in the cup games because you have to be 16, and he doesn’t turn 16 until the 30th of July.
“But he’s a kid we rate highly. Players of that calibre obviously attract attention but we can’t control that.
“We’re not in control of that. There’s been an offer made to him, but I don’t want to discuss or put any pressure on a 15-year-old, to be honest.
“There’s a contract there because he’s a good player, but we’ve got a lot of good players and they will attract attention.”
With St Mirren’s first competitive game of the season fast approaching, Robinson admits St Mirren will be facing Arbroath this Saturday without key strikers Curtis Main and Eamonn Brophy.
Main is still recovering from planned surgery over the summer break, while Brophy is still not fully fit after a spate of injury problems over the last two years.
Robinson hopes a more cautious approach to getting Scotland international Brophy back firing on all cylinders will pay off over the course of the coming season.
Robinson said: “I don’t think either Main or Brophy will take part on Saturday.
“Main is behind because of his operation obviously, and Brophy we need to get back fit and stay fit.
“He keeps coming back and breaking down injured, even before I was here as well. He was constantly injured all the time.
“We have to try and break that cycle of rushing him back and getting injuries because we need him fit for the season.
“We’re working him hard and getting him to a general level of fitness that I don’t think he’s had in a long time.
“Hopefully that will break the cycle of injuries.”
While losing in front of your home crowd is never ideal, Robinson insists he hasn’t paid attention to any of the scorelines over the course of pre-season.
He added: “I didn’t take anything from the results against Linfield, Crusaders and the game against Motherwell behind closed doors. It was all about fitness and giving people game time leading into the competitive action.
“We believe we’ve got an idea of what our strongest team is. We mixed and matched and it was a competitive game for 45 minutes, especially until both teams made a lot of changes.
“I thought some of the young kids did really well. Kieran Offord was outstanding when he came on and nearly scored a super goal.”
