'Strong'Mikulic

Bozo Mikulic "feels at home already" at St Johnstone after linking up with Simo Valakari again.

The 27-year-old defender played under Valakari at Auda in Latvia and is hoping to experience more "amazing times" together after becoming the Finn's first Saints signing last month.

Mikulic, who has now been granted a work permit and could make his debut against Motherwell this weekend, told SaintTV: "I feel at home already and I thank the great people for their perfect hospitality.

"I worked with the head coach in Latvia, I enjoyed that so I hope to do so again here at St Johnstone.

"We had a great season, we were third and played in the Conference League, it was amazing."

The Croatian has enjoyed a few training sessions with the Perth side and played 45 minutes in a bounce game, so believes he is ready to get going in the Scottish game.

"I played a training game against Hibernian and I feel really good," he added. "The standard is intense and expectations are for maximum effort, so that's great for me.

"I think I will adapt to the aerial duals here, I am strong in the air and strong in duals. I enjoy playing with the ball at my feet, too."