Wheeling And Dealing Ahead For Brown

Fir Park manager Craig Brown is weighing up a summer move for Everton pair Anton Peterlin and Cody Arnoux. The Americans impressed Brown in a 2-1 friendly reserve win over Celtic on Tuesday and if a deal can be done, Brown would be happy to keep them at Motherwell. Loan deals from Everton have been kind to Motherwell with reserves John Ruddy and Lukas Jutkiewicz doing more than their share to get the club into the top six this season. Midfielder Peterlinis nearing the end of a one-year deal at Goodison Park and has yet to play for the first team while striker Arnoux joined Everton last summer.

Brown said: "They are good players and they are here for another practice match next week. If they maintain the promise that we've seen, they must be candidates for signing offers. I'm not getting complacent about that, obviously we may have to compete to get them. But we're looking at them with considerable interest and it just proves to the fans of Motherwell that we're not letting the grass grow under our feet. In the event of perhaps the two loan players going back to Everton, we have started early looking at possible replacements. We might have to do a bit of negotiating to get them either on loan or there might be a transfer fee. I haven't discussed it at that level with (Everton manager) David Moyes, who's a pal of mine and has kindly given us a look at the players."

Brown admits the chances of keeping top scorer Jutkiewicz and Ruddy, who has kept 15 clean sheets in 30 SPL games, look slim. The former Scotland manager said: "I'm not pestering him (Moyes) but every time I speak to him I say 'Come on, be kind and allow them to stay'. But I have very, very severe reservations about the prospect of them staying."