Ross County manager Jim McIntyre could move to bring in St Mirren right back Jason Naismith during the January transfer window after allowing Erik Cikos to leave the Dingwall club.
Slovakian defender Cikos still had six months left to run on his contract but, after making just seven appearances this season, the 28-year-old’s contract has been terminated.
Cikos, who has two caps for his country, had been in his second spell with County after rejoining last summer from Slovan Bratislava, who originally loaned him to the Highlanders for a short spell in 2014.
Cikos had not played since November after being dislodged by Marcus Fraser and with McIntyre having already secured fellow right back Naismith on a pre-contract for next season, he could be tempted to strike an early deal with the Buddies.
McIntyre said: “We’d like to wish Erik well with the next stage of his career. He enjoyed two spells at the club and we couldn’t have asked more from him. An opportunity came up for Erik that could allow him more first-team football.”
County return to action on Saturday with a Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Championship side Dundee United at Victoria Park, with McIntyre hinting the game will come too soon for recovering wide midfielders Chris Burke and Michael Gardyne.
Burke has been out since November with a viral infection, while Gardyne suffered a hamstring injury last month.
McIntyre added: “Chris has rejoined training but he still has a bit of work to do before he gets into the squad. Michael Gardyne is making good progress but again Saturday will be too soon for him.
“Losing Chris and Michael has obviously been difficult for us but the players have stepped up to the mark. We have slightly adapted our system and Liam has played a slightly different role, which adds another dimension.
“We have continued to be a threat going forward and caused teams problems with that.”
