Scottish gossip: Moyes, Thelin, Shankland, Di Stefano, Henderson

New St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari has handed a trial to Bozo Mikulic, the 27-year-old Croatian defender with whom he worked at Auda in Latvia and who is a free agent after leaving Albanian club Partizani Tirana. (Daily Record), external

St Johnstone will receive £25,000 in training compensation following Trinidad & Tobago midfielder Dan Phillips’ summer move to Stevenage. (The Courier), external

The Scottish Premiership sits sixth worldwide for the amount of expatriate players, behind Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, United Arab Emirates and Italy, with the CIES football observatory stating that 57.4% of the minutes played are, on average, played by “footballers who grew up in a different association than the one they currently play in”. (The National), external

Controversial businessman and former Dundee board member Giovanni di Stefano claims to have opened talks with current owner Tim Keyes over a shock return to the Scottish Premiership club. (Scottish Sun), external

Dundee are refusing to engage with former director Giovanni di Stefano after the 69-year-old claimed to be in talks with owner Tim Keyes about a return, with the convicted fraudster saying he was “potentially the comeback king of Dundee Football Club” in a video shared on X. (The Courier), external

Scotland right-back Nathan Patterson took a sizeable step towards a return to first-team action when the 22-year-old completed 90 minutes for Everton’s under-21s against their counterparts from League One side Reading on Monday. (The Athletic), external

Celtic midfielder Reo Hatate has insisted he has no complaints about being dragged halfway around the world after being called up for Japan and not even making the bench for World Cup qualifiers against China and Bahrain last month. (Glasgow Times), external