Jim Goodwin admits players will have to leave St Mirren before he can refurbish his squad.

The Buddies boss revealed his admiration for Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan whom he was keen to bring to Paisley last summer in a deal involving Jamie McGrath going the other way which failed to materialise.

However, ahead of the trip to Dundee United on Tuesday night – where the visitors are looking for their first win in 12 matches – Goodwin spoke about the economic realities at St Mirren.

He said: “Scott Allan is a player I have always admired.

“He has real good technical ability, a very creative type but we have a number of those players at the moment in the squad.

“Before we bring anyone else into the group, realistically we are probably going to have to let one or two go first.

“We have had a couple of conversations with two or three players before the break and we have left it with them and their representatives.

“There is not an endless pot of money here in Paisley, we have got to balance the books much like the majority of the clubs out there. We can’t continuously sign players and add to the squad.

“That is a situation we are in at the moment but Scott is a player that was obviously linked with us in the summer and if everything had transpired the way we thought then Scott would be here.

“But at this moment in time we are not speaking to Scott or his representatives.

“I think I have a good, competitive squad at the moment.

“We have had an opportunity in the break to press the reset button and to work on one or two things and hopefully that will pay off starting at Dundee United tomorrow night.”

Goodwin is ruing the 10 draws in 20 league games that have left St Mirren in ninth place as the action resumes following the winter break.

He said: “The break came at a great time for us as a club.

“The Covid problems we had in the last two fixtures before the break were well-documented so it couldn’t have come at a better time for us.

“We had one or two injury concerns as well so we have had the best part of two and a half, three weeks to get everyone right so in the main we are in good shape going into the second part of the season.

“The number of points we have accumulated hasn’t been good enough for the quality we have in the group.

“We have had a ridiculous amount of draws this season, more than I can ever remember.

“We have drawn half our league games and if we could just turn three or four of them into victories it could put a whole different complexion on the league table.”