ARGYLE Head Coach Paul Mariner has refused to rule out a return to Green duty for Scottish trio Steve MacLean, Jim Paterson and Alan Gow.

MacLean and Paterson have joined Aberdeen on loan until the end of the season, while Gow has moved to Hibernian in a similar deal.

Mariner believes regular first-team football will benefit the trio and also allow the youngsters at Home Park a chance to flourish.

"I spoke to Jim and Alan, and had a brief chat with Steve," said Mariner.

"Basically, it was in the players' court. They're pros and they want to play. Everybody wants to play and we completely understand that.

"They had the opportunity to go back home, so it was a good fit for them.

"We've got a lot of young talent coming through. [Yala] Bolasie's back, [Luke] Summerfield has come back and [Craig] Noone is coming into our thoughts more and more.

"We've also added [Sean] Kinsella, [Joe] Mason and [Ryan] Leonard to the first-team squad and they're regularly training with us, so we're assessing the situation all the time.

"We're monitoring all the loan players. If they do brilliantly well [in Scotland], then we've got to revisit it. It's a state of flux, as it always is with players.

"We've got players going out of contract, which we also need to address."