Motherwell are closing in on signing Australia for, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Stuart Kettlewell confirmed.
The Newcastle Jets striker, who scored 17 times in the A-League last season and earned his first Socceroos cap against Palestine last month, has been lined up to fill the void left by Theo Bair, who joined French Ligue 1 side Auxerre for a seven-figure fee last week.
“Apostolos is traveling over to Scotland just now and I can confirm there is an agreement in place subject to medical,” he said at his press conference ahead of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup game against Partick Thistle.
“His partner was due to give birth on Monday so that has delayed proceedings by a couple of days.
“He’s someone we have been tracking and following for a while. We would hope if we can get him past that medical in the next day or so, I would love to think he starts to come into the mix and our group right away.
“I don’t want to say too much more than that, but I think it is important that I do confirm the rumours that are out there because I am always dispelling them when I think they are absolute nonsense but this one is accurate, although some of the details in terms of numbers and finances are very inaccurate, I have to say.
“However, he is travelling and is someone we believe is coming with real good pedigree. At 25, we believe can develop at this football club and hopefully pitch in with what is a real good history of number nines.”
Stuart Kettlewell,Newcastle Jets,Apostolos Stamatelopoulos,French Ligue 1,Theo Bair,Socceroos,Auxerre
