AHEAD of the Scottish Cup final this Saturday St Johnstone captain Jason Kerr has revealed that he is keen to sign a contract extension with the Perth club. 

The 24-year-old has been a rock at the back for Callum Davidson’s team alongside Liam Gordon and Jamie McCart and his performances have no doubt caught the eye of clubs across the country. 

Kerr has a year left on his current deal but ahead of this weekend’s Hampden showdown against Hibernian the defender has declared that his “future is with St Johnstone”. 

Asked if he would be open to the idea of extending his stay in Perth, Kerr said: “Definitely. It’s good that a lot of players are committing themselves to the club.  

“There’s so much excitement about what we’re doing just now and what we can go on to do in the future. I’ve got another year left on my contract but I’m definitely open to talks.  

“My future is with St Johnstone and I really want to play European football with the club.” 

Saints secured European football after pipping Livingston to fifth place in the Scottish Premiership on goal difference. 

As it stands the Perth outfit would go into the qualification rounds for the Uefa Conference League, but if they were to land the Scottish Cup they would be guaranteed group stage football until at least December. 

On that prospect, Kerr continued: “That’s mind-blowing. We’re obviously going to focus on Saturday first but I wouldn’t put anything past this team. 

“If we did get that, I’m sure it’s a challenge we’d meet. Every player wants to play European football – it’s huge for players at the club and players we’re looking to sign. 

“If that’s not an incentive for a player, I don’t know what is.” 

Saints have been rocked with a Covid breakout within McDiarmid Park over the past two weeks and as a result a number of players have missed games due to contracting the virus or self-isolation as a close contact. 

Kerr tested positive for coronavirus at the turn of the year and he admits the recent spate of positives have resulted in a difficult period for all concerned. 

He explained: “It’s been really tough. We haven’t had as many training sessions as we would have wanted since the semi-final but we’ve got through it so far. 

“There’s no good time to catch the virus obviously but from our point of view the timing was really bad. It’s been a bit anxious but we knew that we had the depth in our squad that would mean we could keep getting results, which we’ve proven again. 

“Now we’ll get players back for Saturday. I felt fine in my first game back. Obviously you can’t do as much fitness work as you would want when you’re in the house but we’re professional footballers.  

“Ten days isn’t too bad. As long as you get a couple of training sessions before a game you’re good to go. I think it will be our 50th game on Saturday so we’ve played a lot of football. It’s not as if we need to build our fitness up.” 

Kerr could skipper his side to a historic cup double this weekend when Saints go up against Hibernian at Hampden Park. 

And ahead of the Glasgow showdown the defender told the Herald: “We’ve been sensible all season but there will definitely be a bit of added caution in the build-up to the final. We all want to be ready for it. 

“We’ve already put one trophy in the cabinet. We know how to do it and we’re hungry for another one. We won’t be putting too much on our record against Hibs. We’ve done well against them but we know they’ve got a good squad. 

“We’ll focus on ourselves and if we play to our potential we can beat anyone. We know we can put good performances in there.” 

There will be no fans in attendance at Hampden due to Glasgow staying in tier three and Kerr admits there was a slight disappointment when First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the decision. 

He added: “We would have loved that to happen but the decision has been made and you’ve got to respect it. 

“I’m gutted but I’m sure the fans and my family won’t mind if it’s the same as the Betfred Cup and they get to watch us winning on the TV.”