BY ALAN TEMPLE – Capital City Press
Ray McKinnon hopes Raith Rovers may have uncovered their own answer to Juanma Delgado after taking Marko Vukanovic on trial.
McKinnon is casting his net far and wide as he looks to bolster his attacking options and the former Switzerland under-17 internationalist is currently training with the Fifers in an attempt to win a deal in British football.
Vukanovic, 20, scored seven goals for Spanish side Sabadell last term as they were relegated from the Segunda Division and has previously been on trial with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
And McKinnon has revealed the big striker arrived in Kirkcaldy with rave reviews, drawing comparisons with the Jambos’ new goal hero Juanma, who has bagged three goals in the top flight already.
McKinnon said: “We have a trialist, Marko Vukanovic, in from Spain and come highly recommended. We will have a look. You might unearth a gem, you might not. But we are certainly looking.
“He scored seven goals in seven appearances and I’ve checked him out. He’s still young, just 20, so we’ll just need to wait and see what happens.
“He was at Sabadell at last season. I spoke to someone about him at he told me he was in the same mould as this boy at Hearts, Juanma, so let’s hope so!”
Fellow trialists Anthony Costa and Onur Yildiz are still at the club as they look to bolster their thin attacking options, while Rovers remains in talks with a Scottish Premiership club regarding the possibility of a loan deal for one of their youngsters.
With Lewis Vaughan potentially out for the season with cruciate knee ligament damage, the Fifers’ only fit out-and-out strikers are Mark Stewart and 18-year-old loanee from Dundee, Craig Wighton.
Meanwhile, Jason Thomson will captain Rovers against Alloa Athletic tomorrow afternoon – despite his midweek Petrofac Training Cup red card against Stenhousemuir following a late flare-up.
The Championship outfit have lodged an official appeal against the dismissal and, as a consequence, he will be eligible to play until the case is heard at Hampden.
McKinnon added: “To be fair to the Stenny players and staff, they have all said it’s not a red card and promised to back us up on that. We are appealing it. Whether we win or not is another matter, but at least we have testament from the Stenny players. which is great.
“It would have been an immediate ban if we hadn’t appealed it, but he can play the next two games now.”
