St Mirren confirm signing of forward James Scott from Exeter City

St Mirren have signed former Motherwell forward James Scott from Exeter.

The 23-year-old joins the Paisley side on an initial six month loan-deal with a guaranteed two-year-deal at the end of the season.

Scott scored seven goals in 40 appearances for the Steelmen as a teenager under current St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson before sealing a £1.5m move to Hull City in 2020.

He also had a short loan spell at Hibs in the 2021/22 campaign before making the move to Exeter.

After struggling to nail down a place with the English League One side he has now returned to Scotland to be reunited with Robinson at St Mirren.

The Premiership club confirmed the signing on Wednesday.

Robinson said: “James is a player I worked with at Motherwell and we sold him for a substantial fee so that tells you the kind of quality he has.

“He had an injury when he first went to Hull that kind of scuppered his chances of success there. Sometimes you need picked back up and I believe I can do that with James.

“He has a lot of talent. He can play anywhere across the front three so he fits in to our system and our squad. He’s someone I’m really looking forward to working with again.

“He’s only 23 with loads of potential and he adds a little spark that, at times, we could be missing in that final third.

“He’s very technical and can play with his left and right foot. He needs to get up to speed with his fitness but if we get a James Scott working as hard as we had him at Motherwell then we’ve got a very good player on our hands.”

Scott said he is delighted to make the move.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to get it over the line. When I got the phone call from Stephen Robinson it was a no brainer.

“I feel like the gaffer got the most out of me as a player. I did really well under him at Motherwell and I feel like he can get the best out of me.”