Scott Arfield looks set to sign for Livingston as the West Lothian club bid to survive in Scotland’s top tier after being promoted via the play-offs last season.
The 37-year-old (pictured with the Scottish Cup) is currently unattached after leaving William Hill Premiership newcomers Falkirk, a club he helped win the Championship last season.
Arfield also helped The Bairns to a highly-creditable sixth position in the 12-strong table this term.
David Martindale, boss of The Lions, confirmed Arfield had been training with the club and he has been impressed with the enthusiasm of the former Rangers player who also acts as a TV pundit.
One instance of that came in an early session. Martindale noted a player kicking a ball up against a wall after the group had come back from training. It was Arfield, who said the boss, has such an enthusiasm to play football.
He wants to play and the striker was keen to come into an environment where he was not sitting on the bench. He does not want to be a bit-part player.
Martindale did, however, confirm the signing of Alex Tamm, an Estonian international striker, plucked from Slovenian football, and the paperwork is on-going. He hopes it comes through before Saturday.
The manager described the player as “a machine” but he has not “done a lot for five or six weeks” so his fitness will be assessed by the club’s backroom team ahead of the Kilmarnock clash.
He believes the Estonian is a penalty box player and described him as physical, a player who has got to get balls fed into the box.
That makes him, said the manager, totally different from Jeremy (Bokila), totally different from Tete Yengi, totally different from Robbie Muirhead and that is what Martindale said he has been trying to bring in, a striker with a skill set which the coaching staff felt they were lacking.
Martindale admitted: “We need somebody to come in and help us and score goals.”
Arfield has undoubtedly proved he can do that in good company during his career which stretches back to 2007, and Martindale revealed that he chatted with the former Rangers player when Falkirk visited on August 9, Livingston’s one and only win in the top flight this term.
The Livi boss said: “I always speak to Scotty after games. We always made a point of saying hello and shaking hands. I thought I had missed the boat in terms if Scotty’s age and his profile, and we are both in the Premiership.”
The opportunity to sign the experienced player has come up. Already, without putting too much pressure on Arfield, Martindale can see what he has done with the group, but he is well aware of Arfield’s age and the necessity to watch how he is used if the paperwork is completed.
