Jim Duffy has revealed that Morton are still hoping to sign Luca Gasparotto on a permanent deal.

The Canadian youngster spent last season on-loan at Cappielow from Rangers, but having been released by the Ibrox club at the end of the season, is now a free agent.

Duffy admits that he would love to have the 21-year-old back at the Greenock club, but he knows he may be facing a waiting game as the defender continues to weigh up his options.

Duffy said: “He did very well for us, so we’ve spoken to him and we’ve spoken to his agent and we have told them that there is significant interest from us.

“He’s went back to Canada and he’s going to assess his options and look at his situation, but he knows that we’re definitely one of those options.

“We have made our intentions known to Luca and his agent that if the opportunity arises we would like to have him back here. I don’t really know at this moment in time exactly where we stand with that because he’s back in Canada, so we’ll have to wait and see how it develops over the next few weeks.”

Two players who have checked in to Cappielow so far this summer are Duffy’s nephew, former Hearts and Queen of the South forward Gary Oliver, and former Alloa and St Johnstone full-back Michael Doyle.

“Gary is a boy that has good potential,” Duffy said. “He’s got natural footballing ability, is very comfortable on the ball, and you want a modern-day footballer to be comfortable taking the ball in tight areas. Gary is like that.

“He can bring other people into play, and I think that’s important. He can draw people towards him and leave space for his teammates, so if we can get the balance right, I think he can be a very good player for us.

“Michael as well, I’ve always thought was a good player. I tried to get him when I first came to Morton, but he was under 23 at the time there would have been compensation involved so it wasn’t feasible.

“He’s a player I’ve kept my eye on though. I spoke to Tommy Wright at St Johnstone who spoke very highly of him, and I felt it was an area of the pitch where we were a wee bit short.

“Conor Pepper played there most of last year, but he had an operation and missed the last couple of months of the season. I felt we didn’t have a natural challenge in that position, so Michael will give us that.

“He’s 24-years of age, and I think both of these players have still got more to come. They’ve still got potential and they’ve still got another level I think they can go to, so hopefully they can add something to the squad.”

Despite those additions, Duffy isn’t resting on his laurels, and wants to strengthen in some key areas before the League Cup starts in mid-July.

He knows though that to get the quality he desires, he may have to again wait to see who becomes available on the loan market, an avenue he exploited with great success last season.

“I don’t expect my squad to be anywhere near complete until well into pre-season to be honest,” he said.

“If we feel there is someone we can get to come before then then great, but I think you’ve got to let clubs have a look at their squads and see who might become available.

“We did that last year and after the season started we brought in Denny Johnstone, Declan McManus, Luca and Alex Samuel, and we might be along similar lines this year.

“We’ve got a good nucleus of the squad from last season and have added Gary and Michael, so we’ll take our time to make sure we get it right.

“We have to strengthen still in certain areas, so hopefully we can do that before the real stuff starts in a month or so."