Andy Halliday has signed for Motherwell on an initial six-month loan deal from Heart of Midlothian, but he will also sign a further one-year contract with the Fir Park club at the end of the current season.

The former Livingston and Rangers midfielder had been in talks with four SPFL clubs as he went in search of regular football, but Stuart Kettlewell has persuaded him that his future lies at Fir Park.

Kettlewell had refused to be drawn specifically on a move for the 32-year-old yesterday, saying:  “I’m not going to go into the specifics of individuals, but what I can tell you is that we have spoken to a lot of players.

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“I genuinely believe there are a couple of those who are sitting in a reasonable position, but I am trying really hard to see if we can get a couple more over the line.

“You mention an individual, I can tell you I’ve spoken to a lot of players and a lot of representatives, and some of those conversations have been a lot more positive than others.

“But I hope that in the coming days our guys will be announcing one or two things that are getting across the line for us, but there are no guarantees in football.

“Come the end of the window, we want to come out of it stronger than we went in, and at the minute, we are quite clearly weaker than we went in because of the players we’ve lost.”

Halliday's former club Livingston were one of the names in the hunt for the 32-year-old, but Livi manager David Martindale admitted earlier that he couldn't compete with what Motherwell had to offer.

“I think Andy would be an unbelievable player for Livingston, he would add huge positivity to the group, but Andy’s got some strong options and I respect that,” Martindale said.

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“I would love a player of Andy’s calibre at Livingston but I think it’s a wee bit out of sight if I’m honest.

“If you’re a player and you’ve got a chance of being in a relegation battle or chasing Europe or top six, at that end of your career you’re probably going to try and chase European football.”