Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell says the Staggies have always been braced for the possible departure of midfielder Jamie Lindsay.
Rotherham United have had a bid accepted for Lindsay, believed to be around £300,000, with the 23-year-old holding talks with the English League One outfit in recent days.
Although Kettlewell remained tight-lipped about the details of the deal, he says the Staggies have always anticipated interest in Lindsay, who has a year left on his contract, and would not begrudge the former Celtic player the chance to test himself south of the border.
Kettlewell said: “There have been press reports over the last couple of days.
“He has certainly been speaking to a club – but we have nothing actually to confirm at this minute in time, and we won’t be doing that until anything comes about officially.
“Jamie was always one that was earmarked as a player that may have a future somewhere else, pending on doing well for this football club. We always felt he had a big future in the game.
“I’m sure we will agree he was tremendous for us last season.
“He’s a great lad, and has had an ambition to play down south.
“If something does materialise there, he will go with our best wishes.
“We will see how that one pans out in the next 24 hours but we have nothing to confirm.”
Kettlewell and fellow co-manager Steven Ferguson further strengthened their squad ahead of the new Premiership campaign, adding goalkeeper Jack Ruddy and forward Lee Erwin ahead of tonight’s Betfred Cup match against Forfar Athletic. The Staggies need just a point in order to seal their place in the last-16 of the competition.
Ruddy has signed a six-month deal after leaving Wolves, with the Staggies having been forced to seek goalkeeping cover after on-loan Chelsea player Nathan Baxter suffered a dislocated shoulder.
Kettlewell says the 21-year-old will be given the chance to compete with Ross Laidlaw in the meantime, adding: “Jack has signed until January as it stands just now. It’s going to be a fair fight, like we’ve said about any position on the pitch. If Jack goes out and really impresses day-to-day, he’s going to be considered the exact same as Ross will.
“It’s up to us to make a decision on who we think is going to perform best on a matchday.”
Kettlewell is also excited by the arrival of former Motherwell and Kilmarnock forward Erwin, who left Iranian club Tractor earlier this summer.
Kettlewell added: “We have wanted to run with four strikers as we did last season. After Declan McManus left to join Falkirk, by far and away we felt Lee was the best option in that area of the pitch. We have already told him that.
“We know it’s a massive coup for us.”
