St Johnstone boss impressed with ex Real Madrid player
Tommy Wright has Julien Foubert on trial and likes what he's seen
Tommy Wright admits some of his St Johnstone youngsters were left stunned when former Real Madrid player Julien Foubert walked into their changing room.
The ex-West Ham and France right-back has joined the Perth outfit on trial and featured for their under-20s against Hearts on Monday.
Wright has been impressed with the 32-year-old's attitude after watching him line up alongside the McDiarmid teenagers.
The Northern Irishman says : "I wasn't in the dressing
room but my assistant Callum Davidson said a few jaws dropped when he walked in the door. A few more dropped when they found out who he was as well.
"He is a quality player but he hasn't played for a while and that's something we have to take into consideration.
"If he does stay on, he would become another role model for the players here. I think we've got a lot of good role models here already but Julien is an excellent footballer, played at the highest level and has come in and mixed well with the lads.''
One-time Rangers target Foubert - a free agent after leaving Bordeaux last summer - has been joined on trial by Bulgarian defender Plamen Krachunov and Wright has been impressed by both players.
"They are here for another week to 10 days and we will make a decision at the end of that,'' said Wright, who has decided against dealing in a third trialist, Nigerian defender Daniel Adejo.
Both Julien and Plamen have shown their quality so far and I think they would add to the squad.
"But things like fitness and a few other aspects will come into consideration before we make a decision.''
St Johnstone host Motherwell on Saturday desperate to halt a nine-match run without a win and get back into the Ladbrokes Premiership top six.
Wright said: "Everybody is writing that confidence is low and that we're an ageing team but we're not. Our average age is 26 and we're still just a point off fourth place.
"We're just going through a run of bad results and there is a lot of things playing a factor in that. We're conceding the first goal too often and that always leaves you with an uphill battle.
"There are little decisions that aren't going our way. I've seen some of the penalties that have been given this week. We've had similar incidents with Graham Cummins and Steven Anderson against Dundee but didn't get them.
"It's up to us to turn it around. One of the things we need to do is be a bit more positive in the final third. We're trying to overcomplicate things. We saw Dundee twice took early strikes against us and got a goal. In those situations we tend to look for another pass. Maybe we need to show a bit more belief, even a bit more selfishness in those positions.''