Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain 'keeping options open' as St Mirren contracts near end

St Mirren duo Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain are “keeping their options open” with their current deals at the Paisley club up at the end of this season.

The Australia internationals will be free to sign pre-contract agreements with potential suitors in January and leave for free the following summer.

Saints are looking to tie the pair down on longer-term deals and initial talks have been held but manager Stephen Robinson admitted on Friday that they are looking to explore their options before committing to the Premiership high-flyers.

Baccus, who played at last year’s World Cup, started for the Socceroos in their 2-2 draw with Mexico on Sunday with Strain an unused sub for the game played in Texas.

St Mirren visit Motherwell on Saturday knowing a win will see them leapfrog the Steelmen into second place, and could potentially even go top if Celtic lose to Dundee in Glasgow.

Speaking to the media ahead of the weekend’s games, Robinson said: “We’ve had a lot of players away on international duty, which is a testament to the football club and where we are going, they’ve all come back fit and well at different stages of the week so it’s been a wee bit more difficult to get everyone together.

“Today is the first day we have had everybody out training, Keanu and Ryan have just come back from Dallas after a game against Mexico so it’s just a case of how they feel and how their bodies are and I will pick the team with the most energy to go and get the points.”

On talks taking place with Strain and Baccus he said: “There was a verbal conversation that between myself and Jim Gillespie have had with the boys, and their representatives, and both of them are keeping their options open at this moment in time, which they are more than entitled to do.

“So we will continue to try, but also continue to try and look for other people because we’ve always got to be a step ahead and that’s what we will try to do.

“That outside noise (rumours about other clubs being interested) is generated mostly falsely, so you just ignore that. Players have the right to decide what they want to do. We want both boys to stay and we have made that very clear and we will still chase that.

“But it’s up to me to be prepared and for the club to be prepared to find replacements if they don’t sign.”