Franco came to St Mirren on trial during the 2007 pre-season on the recommendation of Stuart Baxter who was the manager of Swedish side Helsingborg where Miranda had previously been on-loan.

A loan deal was agreed with Argentine side CAI to bring Franco to St Mirren but the season was already started before he got his international clearance through to play for Saints - and the wait was worth it as he scored on his debut in a match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

He showed a lot of promise but as the season progressed, over a year without a break started to take its toll. But his style of play and commitment was so impressive that it was enough for Saints to make an argument to convince CAI to let them have Franco on-loan for another season.