Kevin van Veen is on his way to Kilmarnock after the Ayrshire club fended off competition from Motherwell and St Mirren for the Dutch striker.

Van Veen, scorer of 29 goals for Motherwell last season, has revealed he is joining Killie on loan until the end of the season.

Motherwell lost out on taking the player back after failing to match Killie and St Mirren’s financial input with the Rugby Park side set to pay the majority of his Groningen wages.

The 32-year-old scored five goals earlier this season but lost his place in the team after a disagreement with the manager and was keen to return to Scotland to be with his family.

Hibernian signed two 20-year-old centre-backs on loan as the winter transfer window entered its final evening with their new relationship with Bournemouth quickly bearing fruit.

Hibs landed Nectarios Triantis from Sunderland and Owen Bevan from Bournemouth until the end of the season.

Australia Under-23 international Triantis was a regular under Hibs head coach Nick Montgomery during Central Coast Mariners’ A-League title-winning season before making three appearances for Sunderland this term.

Wales Under-21 international Bevan has played in the Premier League for the Cherries and spent time on loan with Cheltenham this season. Hibs this week received approval from the Scottish Football Association to progress with an investment in the club from Bournemouth’s owners.

Dundee, Livingston, Motherwell and St Johnstone have also made additions but more business is expected at Celtic and Rangers, among others.

Celtic are set to wrap up the loan signing of Norwich and Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah, who has scored seven goals this season, after the 22-year-old arrived in Glasgow on Wednesday.

Several players could be on their way out of Celtic Park with David Turnbull and Mikey Johnston tipped to join Cardiff and West Brom respectively, and James Forrest linked with an exit.

But Gustaf Lagerbielke’s proposed loan move to Italian side Lecce could be scuppered amid reports of further injury concerns over his fellow centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Rangers are expected to complete the signing of 20-year-old Colombia winger Oscar Cortes on loan from Lens with an option to buy after he arrived in Glasgow.

The Light Blues look to have been thwarted in their bid to land Brazilian left-back Jefte from Fluminense, with loan club APOEL Nicosia reportedly intent on keeping him until the end of the campaign.

However, uncertainty remains over the future of Gers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz, with Galatasaray said to be preparing an offer.

Reports from Italy also claimed Hellas Verona were set to launch a bid to sign striker Cyriel Dessers.

Dundee re-signed Norwich goalkeeper Jon McCracken on loan. McCracken’s return to Dens Park came following an initial loan deal being terminated in August after he lost his place to Trevor Carson.

The 23-year-old went on to join Accrington on an emergency loan and played 13 times and now cannot play for anyone else this season other than Dundee.

With Carson missing some games recently through injury, manager Tony Docherty told his club’s website: “It is important for me to have strong competition in every position for the last part of the season and I want that with our goalkeepers and bringing Jon in gives us a real level of competition.”

Livingston have signed midfielder David Carson on an 18-month deal after the 28-year-old made more than 160 appearances for Inverness.

Aberdeen are said to have failed in an effort to re-sign Mattie Pollock on loan from Watford while Motherwell have sealed a loan deal for Rangers full-back Adam Devine.

St Johnstone announced the signing of striker Adama Sidibeh for an undisclosed fee from Northern Premier League club Warrington Rylands. The 25-year-old has signed until May 2026.

Ross County were confident of signing one more player before the deadline.

Outside of the top flight, Queen’s Park head coach Callum Davidson believes he has pulled off “a bit of a coup” by signing 32-year-old former Liverpool, Rangers and Scotland defender Danny Wilson from Colorado Rapids.

Lowland League side Albion Rovers sold striker Joe Bevan to Premier League Burnley for an undisclosed fee. The 19-year-old scored 15 goals for Rovers after joining from Camelon 12 months ago.

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell would be “amazed” if any Scottish club could afford to buy player-of-the-year contender Kevin van Veen.

The 31-year-old is open to a summer move after hitting 25 goals so far this season and being nominated for top player in the PFA Scotland awards.

But Kettlewell is comfortable the Dutchman is happy at Fir Park unless both he and the club receive an offer they cannot refuse.

“I would be amazed if a club in Scotland could come up with the money we would be thinking about for Kevin van Veen,” said the Motherwell manager, whose team face St Johnstone on Saturday.

“This is where he is so categorically, I am so categoric; as it stands, unless someone was able to put life-changing money in front of Motherwell – and it would have to be both parties – then he will remain a Motherwell player.”

Van Veen has a year left on his contract and spoke about the potential for a summer move after his award nomination was announced on Wednesday – but there were no surprises for Kettlewell in what his player said.

“I am comfortable that I have had so many conversations with Kevin on a personal level, manager to striker,” Kettlewell said.

“And the one thing we both agree on is that he is extremely happy here, that the football club is really happy with him, the supporters love him and I love working with him on a daily basis.

“But there is always a cross point where, if someone puts a ridiculous offer in front of you, sometimes the football club have to profit on it.”

Motherwell made a deficit of about £1million last season and this season’s loss is expected to be even higher.

Kettlewell said: “It would be safe to say it’s been a really challenging year for the club financially. We don’t want to get rid of the player but sometimes an offer comes along that you can’t say no to. I think that’s all that Kevin was saying as well.”

There were strong rumours of a potential move to China earlier this year but no switch materialised before the country’s transfer window closed in early April.

When asked if there had been concrete interest in the Dutchman, Kettlewell said: “There’s not been anything this last spell.

“I have heard a lot of speculation. Every part of a situation that involves Kevin van Veen or any player, they are 100 per cent aware of any situation where there is contact directly to the club or myself.

“When I was a player, if that wasn’t made known to you by the powers that be at the club then I think you create a real problem for yourself.

“Anybody that contacts me or the club, the conversation is had with the player. It’s never to disrupt them, it’s always the opposite.

“It could be something that’s serious, it could be something that’s pure speculation. It could be something that’s in the press that has not happened that disrupts a player, which by the way is happening continuously.

“If there’s something official the player will hear about it directly from myself.”

Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen joked that journalists thought he was on the whisky when he revealed the goal targets he realised to become a player of the year candidate.

The 31-year-old Dutch forward, who joined Well from Scunthorpe in 2021, is the only non-Celtic player among the four nominees for the PFA Scotland Premiership player of the year award.

Van Veen is on the shortlist alongside the title-winning Hoops trio of Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and last season’s winner Callum McGregor.

Van Veen has scored 25 goals this term for the eight-placed Steelmen, including 13 in his last 12 games, and is currently joint second-highest scorer in the top flight, alongside Hearts’ Lawrence Shankland, with 21 to his name.

Furuhashi has notched 30 goals in all competitions and sits top of the Premiership scoring charts with 24.

Van Veen said: “I always believed in myself. That’s why I said last year when journalists came to the club, ‘I am going to chase the top scorers in this league’ and I have done it this year.

“No, they definitely did not (believe him). They probably thought this was just a random Motherwell striker talking, had a whisky in the morning and he is probably not all there.

“I said it because I believed in myself. I know what I am capable of. I am just very happy that I have shown people what I am capable of and what I can do.”

Van Veen still has another year on his contract and asked about the speculation around his future he said. “I can’t say anything other than I am focused on Motherwell.

“I love playing for the club, they gave me a platform to show what I can do.

“But if the club gets a very good transfer sum in the summer, I am willing to help the club.

“It doesn’t mean I want to leave but if everyone is happy and everyone thinks it is the right thing then we need to sit round the table and see what’s best for the player and the club. We have to see what will happen.”

On his nomination, Van Veen said: “I am very happy. To get recognition from the players you have played against, it shows I have done something to impress them.

“I think the other three nominees are sensational players, it is a pretty good achievement for myself.”

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell believes Kevin van Veen deserves to be in contention for the Gallagher Premiership player of the year award.

The Dutchman scored his 25th goal of a stellar personal campaign in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock, after Blair Spittal had given Well an early lead.

The Celtic trio of Kyogo Furuhashi, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate are expected to be among the leading contenders when the nominations are announced by PFA Scotland next week but Kettlewell also made the case for Van Veen.

He said: “If I was a player I would vote for him. But I’m not in control of any of that stuff. I think he’s had a brilliant season, not just his goalscoring.

“It’s about how he approaches it every single week. You have to pitch his personal achievements up against most in the division.

“It’s great that at Motherwell we’ve got a striker that everybody is talking about. He had a moment in the first half where he chops inside with a Cruyff turn after the ball came down with snow on it. That was pretty amazing as well.”

Van Veen is likely to move on from Fir Park in the summer but Kettlewell insists the speculation has not affected the Dutchman’s form.

He added: “We all know what he’s capable of but sometimes it’s not just about the player, it’s about the person. I thought he handled himself absolutely brilliantly as well.

“There’s plenty of hype and talk about him and it’s very easy to think the players are like robots and can keep just churning it out. I’m more delighted with the person today than the player.

“I’ve said it before but if Kevin – or other players – aren’t doing it then we’re not speaking about it.

“And we’ve now got a situation where we are talking about it – although I don’t want to talk about it too much. Just in general you want people to speak about your players when they’re doing well.

“Nothing changes from where we are. The players are all in it for the cause and approaching every game the way they should do, whether there’s speculation or not. That’s the demands I put on them.

“They’re not going out there thinking about what might happen in four or five weeks’ time. We’re just focusing on each game.”

Kilmarnock are now just one point off the bottom of the table but have three of their final four matches at Rugby Park.

Manager Derek McInnes hopes that will play in their favour.

He said: “We needed a win away from home because we can’t be totally dependent on our home form. But the stats show how strong we have been at home, and we’ve got to try and utilise that.

“We’re going to have a big support at home next week against Livingston. Livi are safe, and there is more on the game from our point of view clearly, and we need to demonstrate that in our performance.”