The Irishman would have to wait until January if he was to sign the player and it is rare for him to react to transfer speculation.

But even though he faces stiff competition from a number of Barclaycard Premiership clubs he revealed this afternoon that he was interesting in bringing the Scotland U21 star to Parkhead.

O'Neill said: "I will answer this by saying that I made an enquiry to (Motherwell manager Terry Butcher) Terry and that's as far as that's gone."

A move for Pearson would be the start of O'Neill's long-term plan to eventually replace the likes of Paul Lambert, Henrik Larsson and Johan Mjallby. But he also sees young player of the month Liam Miller, Shaun Maloney, John Kennedy, Ross Wallace and Craig Beattie as the homegrown talents who can lead the regeneration of the Parkhead side.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS