Motherwell are looking to fend off interest from Premiership rivals and tie Blair Spittal to the club on a new long-term contract.

There has been reported interest in Spittal from St Mirren this week, who are trying to land the midfielder on a pre-contract agreement, with the 28-year-old’s current deal expiring in the summer.

But Fir Park assistant manager Stephen Frail is hoping that one of his club’s ‘key men’ will instead commit his future to Motherwell.

“The manager and the recruitment team deal with that side of it, but I’d be gobsmacked if there weren’t approaches from clubs for Blair Spittal,” Frail said.

“He’s been excellent since I’ve walked in, and that’s me just coming up for a year here now.

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“He’s been brilliant in training, everything he does, the way he lives and the way he plays, so we are hopeful that Blair Spittal will be a Motherwell player for the rest of this season and for seasons to come.

“He is a key figure for us, and we can play him in various positions, and he does all of them well and never complains.

“We’ve moved him to wing back, we’ve had him playing in the front three, he can play any side of the pitch.

“He’s been excellent, he really, really has. I can’t speak highly enough about him to work with as well.

“Any information we give him, he takes it on straight away, and he leads training by example.”

Losing important players to bigger clubs has long been an accepted part of life as a Motherwell supporter, but losing such a pivotal figure to a club they would see as being of comparable size would be concerning for the Fir Park faithful. Particularly as they were blown out of the water in their attempts to bring Kevin van Veen back to the club by St Mirren and Kilmarnock yesterday. 

Frail also pointed to the example of Dundee signing Curtis Main to outline a warning that Motherwell may not even be shopping in the same markets as the likes of the Dens Park outfit and the Saints going forward.

“It might get harder,” he said.

“Both of those clubs seem to have spent a bit of money, good luck to them, and the players they have brought in seem to be quality players.

“You look at Dundee bringing in guys like Curtis Main, who has a proven track record in the Premiership, and it’s not just one, they are maybe bringing in two or three players at the same level to play in the same position.

“So, yeah, it is tough, but we believe that what we do in the training pitch will hopefully kick us on for a successful end to the season.

“If we can be as successful as last season, then I think we’re doing ok.”

Meanwhile, Frail clarified the situation around Adam Montgomery, who remains registered to Motherwell despite returning to parent club Celtic for treatment to the hamstring injury he picked up in training last week.

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Frail is hugely disappointed to be without the youngster after an encouraging competitive debut against Alloa Athletic in the Scottish Cup, but he is hopeful Montgomery may be seen in claret and amber again before the end of the season.

“It’s a blow,” he said.

“We played a friendly game against East Kilbride and he linked well with Georgie Gent, who had played that position for us.

“Georgie has played more as a wide player at times for Blackburn, so we felt that combination could work.

“We’re more disappointed for Adam, he’s had a few injuries and he came here and was really enjoying it.

“It was just one of these unfortunate injuries that he’s picked up in training, but we’re hopeful we can get him back sooner rather than later.

“He’s still registered with us, he is just going to do his rehab at Celtic.

“He’s a young lad trying to make his way in the game, but he has got talents and attributes that suit the way we play and the profile of player we look for.

“So, we’re hopeful that he will be back, but Celtic will deal with his rehab, and they’ve been excellent with that.”