MOTHERWELL should not be held to ransom by Viking Stavanger over hitman Henri Anier.

That was the view of Fir Park icon Willie Pettigrew, who has watched the Estonian net seven times this season for the Steelmen during a loan spell which expires on January 16.

But as exclusively revealed in SportTimes on Saturday, Stavanger are looking for a fee from Well to pay out the balance of his contract.

Motherwell's greatest striker of the post-war era, Pettigrew is still working with the club's young strikers and he believes there is more than enough quality coming through the ranks to fill any void caused by the Estonian's potential departure.

He also says youth is the long-term solution for the club rather than short loan deals.

Pettigrew said: "Anier has done very well for Motherwell in recent weeks but the bottom line is that football is a business, and without the luxury of revenue coming from a run in either cup, the club must cut their cloth accordingly.

"Even if we do secure his services until the end of the season then Motherwell will be back in the same position as they are now when Anier moves on in the summer.

"If a deal can be done and it doesn't cost Motherwell anything extra then great.

"If not, then I think we have got to be looking at giving youth its chance because we have more than enough talent coming through the Youth Development centre.

"You look at say St Mirren or Dundee United, for instance, and they are both giving their kids a chance and they are reaping their rewards for that.

"I reckon we should be looking, in an ideal world, at having maybe around 60% of our first team home-reared.

"It is great to see young Craig Moore getting game time with the first team and you have to say that if Anier moves on then there is an opportunity for one of our own to gain vital first-team playing time.

"Lee Erwin would have given us another home-grown option, but sadly he will probably miss the remainder of the season through injury.

"But there are more good kids coming through at Under-19s and youth level. I have been lucky enough to work with some of them."

Although Motherwell's home game with Inverness was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch on Saturday, the Fir Park men still remain in the SPFL Premiership top three with a game in hand over second-placed Aberdeen.

Pettigrew believes manager Stuart McCall is due an enormous amount of credit for negotiating a form blip to string together five wins on the bounce to keep his team flying high.

The Seventies legend said: "Considering how tight his budget is, Stuart McCall has done a fantastic job at Motherwell.

"He had to contend with his biggest summer of change by a mile since he came to the club three years back, but now that the players he has brought in are settled, we are starting to see their quality.

"I like the lad Lionel Ainsworth as he has pace to burn and has really added an extra dimension to our play of late and, as he has shown, he can finish.

"I see no reason why we can't stay inside the top three until the end of the season."

Meanwhile, former Well right-back Tom Hateley could join Barry Douglas in Poland after going on trial at Slask Wroclaw.

The 24-year-old left Fir Park in the summer before a short stint at Tranmere.