Livingston transfer news: Deal for Dominican Republic international defender Luiyi De Lucas 'close' to completion

David Martindale has revealed Livingston are closing in on the signing of Dominican Republic international defender Luiyi De Lucas.

The 28-year-old has been on trial with the Lions since November following just over two years as a regular with Finnish top-flight side Haka. De Lucas has impressed Martindale enough to earn a deal and the cinch Premiership club expect to be able to give him his debut later this month once his international clearance is finalised.

"De Lucas is in the building today," said the Livi boss. "He's got his English language test tomorrow and he's got his Home Office interview next week so I'd be pretty confident that by mid-January we should have him available for first-team selection."

Martindale, who has already signed former Hibernian winger Steven Bradley, expects De Lucas to be his final January recruit. Asked if he anticipated many further additions this month, he said: "No. Unless my phone goes and it's a no-brainer (to bring a player in), I'm not expecting to do much.

Luiyi De Lucas is training with Livingston, who hope to complete the signing of the Dominican Republic international soon. Picture: Paul Devlin / SNS

"I'm fairly happy with where we are. One or two will probably go out to get game time because once we get a few boys back from injury and suspension in the next week or two, there are going to be boys needing to get out on loan for their own careers."

Attacker Joel Nouble is one of those closing in on a return from injury. The 26-year-old has missed the Lions' four matches since the World Cup break with a knee problem, but Martindale revealed the club's medics appear to have got to the bottom of it and he is expected to return to action in the coming weeks.

“Joel's OK," he said. "He's come on leaps and bounds this week. He's not been a million miles away from returning to training but we seem to have overcome the last wee hurdle over the last few days. We're probably going to be very tentative with him over his return but it's been very positive.”

Nouble hopes to rejoin the squad in the next week after missing four games with a knee problem. There has been interest from agents in the striker but no direct contact from clubs, with Martindale saying it “doesn’t matter who phones me, he is going nowhere.”