Motherwell striker Theo Bair closes in on Auxerre move

Motherwell striker Theo Bair is closing in on a move to French side Auxerre.

The Canadian scored 15 goals for the Fir Park side last season after joining on a free transfer from St Johnstone.

He is now set for a move to the newly promoted Ligue 1 side with manager Stuart Kettlewell confirming talks are at an advanced stage.

Reports suggested Motherwell were set to bag a fee of around £1.3million for the 24-year old - with Kettlewell also revealing figures quoted in the media are lower than what they expect to receive.

Bair is returning from Copa America duty where he featured in Canada's third-placed play-off defeat to Uruguay.

Speaking about Bair imminent departure, Kettlewell said: "We're probably moving to a more advanced stage.

"I've seen so many different reports, the guys here at the football club share a lot of information with me to make sure I'm up to speed with the stuff I don't see on social media and all the different types of things. And the one thing I can absolutely guarantee is that I've not seen one accurate report in terms of the numbers or anything like that.

"We are at advanced stage in terms of Theo moving on, I can absolutely confirm that.

"I can't give you too much more information, but nobody has reached the numbers that we're actually speaking about as a football club. Everything has been undershot in any report that I've seen, but we just need to monitor that really over the next 24 hours.

"There have been a lot of conversations and I've been really transparent with some of those conversations, some of the bids that have come in that have been turned down by the football club.

"But I'm now thinking he is back from international duty and that will start to move over the next 24-48 hours."

Meanwhile, Paul McGinn has been confirmed as Liam Kelly's replacement as captain. Stephen O'Donnell wore the armband in Saturday's Premier Sports Cup win over Edinburgh City in McGinn's absence and will be vice-captain for the season ahead.

"Between the two players, they have played over 1,000 games of football," Kettlewell said.

"Paul is a voice and a big influence in the dressing room. The consistency and standards he drives every day is impressive.

"I always think a captain needs to have an affinity with the group, he has that. A captain can't just be in name, you need to have serious influence.

"In the end, this was an easy decision to make given the experience and voice both players have in the team."

McGinn will again miss out at Montrose on Tuesday along with Sam Nicholson, Ross Callachan, Johnny Koutroumbis, Tom Sparrow, Steve Seddon and long-term absentee Callum Slattery.

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