Dundee boss Paul Hartley has revealed that he made his mind up to sign Kevin Gomis after watching him take part in just one training session.
The Dens manager was so impressed by the big French defender, he even cancelled a planned bounce game – so other clubs did not get wind of the 27-year-old former Nice player’s availability.
Gomis had been suspended for two matches after seeing red against Kilmarnock last month but produced a man-of-the-match performance on his return to the side for Saturday’s game against Celtic.
And Hartley admitted it was good to have him back.
He said: “Kevin actually came in to train with us before we signed him and the original plan was to watch him in a bounce game.
“But after seeing him in one training session, I made my mind up to sign him.
“You could see he has played at a high level, is a very good defender and is also excellent on the ball.
“So we knew straight away he was exactly what we were looking for so we didn’t play him in the bounce game in case it alerted anyone else.
“You’re always wary of doing that because it can alert other clubs and someone might nick him off you.
“So we moved quickly to get him and you have seen why.
“I thought he was excellent against Celtic and there’s no doubt we missed him the week before.
“He adds a real physical presence at the back but more than that I think he brings a calmness to things which is very important.”
While Gomis’s return was welcomed, he could not prevent Celtic leaving Dens with all three points courtesy of a Scott Brown goal.
Despite the defeat, Hartley insisted there were plenty of plus points from the performance of his side, especially in defence.
However, the manager intends to use the international break to sharpen up his attack, insisting it is not just the responsibility of the strikers at the club to find the back of the net.
Hartley added: “We never like being beaten but I thought there were positives to take from the Celtic game.
“We defended well and limited them to only a few chances.
“Although they had a lot of the ball, they didn’t really cut us open and that was very pleasing.
“So there were good signs there and we’ve gone into the international break knowing we’ve put in a good performance.
“Scoring goals is what we need to address now but we’ve known that for a while.
“We need everyone chipping in with goals – it’s everyone’s responsibility, so we’ll be working hard on that side of things ahead of the Hearts game.”
Faissal El Bakhtaoui had to come off against Celtic because of a knock to the ribs but he will be fit for the trip to Tynecastle.
