Theo Bair is a striker Liam Gordon has been happy to avoid in St Johnstone training matches.
And the Perth captain hopes that Premiership defenders will soon feel the same way.
The Canadian international, signed from Vancouver Whitecaps last month, made his Saints debut as a second half substitute against St Mirren on Wednesday night.
Bair didn’t really get the sort of service to help him make an instant impact for his new team in that half-hour run-out.
But Gordon is optimistic his skill-set will make the powerhouse MLS recruit a centre-forward to be feared in the SPFL.
🎥 Clips from Theo Bair's St. Johnstone debut.
👉 You can see he's bulked up 💪
👉 Didn't have high xG/shots/box touches w/HamKam but he was clinical. Crucial for underachieving attack.
👉 Expect him to keep dropping deep to spread the ball & win aerial duels#CanMNT pic.twitter.com/ywLfLUR0qz— Peter Galindo (@GalindoPW) February 10, 2022
“Thankfully he’s been on my team every time in training so far and I’ve not had to mark him!” said the Saints centre-back.
“He’s about double the size of me.
“What I’ve seen of him I’ve really liked.
“There’s the sheer size of him for starters.
“He’s an athlete, big, strong, can hold the ball in and is a willing runner.
“He’s got all the attributes you would want in a striker.
“We’re hoping he can be very good for us.
“If he makes the ball stick I can’t see any defender in the league being able to push him off it.
“He could be a joy to play with up front and, for us defenders, someone who will take the ball in and get us up the pitch.
“But we’ve got Callum Hendry and Stevie May who have performed really well in recent weeks and then you’ve got big Nadir coming back soon, as well as other guys.
“We’ve got good competition there.
“Theo will be an asset.”
Size will hopefully matter
With the January addition of Bair, Nadir Ciftci, Dan Cleary, John Mahon, Melker Hallberg, and even wing-backs Tony Gallacher and Tom Sang, Saints have been transformed into a more physically imposing team.
“We’ve got a big side now,” said Gordon.
“That doesn’t automatically mean anything.
“There have been big teams that haven’t been great.
“But if you’ve got strong, physical players who can fit into how we want to play as a team, it is a bonus.
“Guys like Melker are athletes but they’re very good footballer players first and foremost.
“I think we’ve got a good balance in our squad.”
