IT was a long time coming, but Callum Davidson finally added long term transfer target Melker Hallberg to his McDiarmid Park ranks yesterday.

St Johnstone are in desperate need of points as they linger at the foot of the Premiership table and the Swedish international decided to join the relegation fight after being released by Hibernian earlier this week.

Davidson could throw Hallberg straight into action as his team go up against Aberdeen, and he hopes the versatile midfielder will have a positive impact on his squad.

“I’m delighted to get Melker in, we have been after him for a long time,” explained the Saints manager. “He’s one I wanted before the start of this season so it’s good to finally get it done. 

“He’s someone I really like, he can play a few positions - he can play deep midfield or as an attacking midfielder. He will add energy to us in the middle of the pitch and is a good size as well so he’ll bring a presence. 

“He’s a good midfielder with a very good pedigree, a Swedish international, and he’s desperate to play football. Melker knows the game, he’s someone you can tell to do a job and he’s able to do it. 

“If it’s sitting deep in midfield or going box-to-box he’s capable of playing different roles in midfield. We have four of five players in the middle of the park who can do the job now with Charlie Gilmour back from his loan, Cammy MacPherson available again and Jacob Butterfield getting up to speed. 

“So that is three players as well as Melker we didn’t have not that long ago, so I think when you add that to Murray Davidson, Liam Craig and Ali Crawford we have options now. Melker is ready to go, he’s played for Hibs recently, so he can go straight in.”

The transfer business doesn’t stop there for St Johnstone and Davidson is still hopeful of adding up to two new faces to his squad before the transfer window slams shut at midnight on Monday.

New recruit Nadir Ciftci limped off against Dundee on Wednesday as Saints ended their ten-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw at McDiarmid Park.

And as a result, Davidson is hoping to add more firepower to his squad. He continued: “We are looking for another striker and hopefully we will have one, if not two new players before the window closes. 

“The attacking side of it are the difficult ones to do but we need someone to give us a bit more impetus up front. We are working hard to get someone through the door.

“Nadir is getting a scan on Friday so we will know more about it after that. The hamstring has settled a little bit but we will just have to wait and see. Hopefully it won’t be too long. We need to get the scan done, find out exactly what it is.”

In an injury update Davidson revealed that Craig Bryson had gone under the knife to combat his ankle problem, while Shaun Rooney is also set to be operated on.

He added: “Craig Bryson has been in for his operation so he’ll be out for a while and we think Shaun Rooney will need to go for one soon as well. 

“He’s been to see a specialist but he’s going to see another because we want another opinion on it because there are a few options. 

“He’s been a big loss to us, he’s a big character and hopefully he can be back quicker than expected. Last season we went with eighteen players and didn’t have many injuries, but we have had loads this season.

“Mikey O’Halloran isn’t far away, we feared it would be a long-term one but it’s settling quickly so he could be back next week.”