Dundee may have added eight new faces already this summer but boss Tony Docherty wants more.
Saturday’s friendly against Fleetwood showed what a few injuries will do to his options.
The Dark Blues kept Shaun Byrne, Max Anderson, Lyall Cameron and Euan Mutale out of that clash after picking up minor knocks.
And that left them with just 16 to choose from, three of them being goalkeepers.
But there are three more to return from injury while new signings Diego Pineda and Antonio Portales are waiting for the home office to green light their switch from Mexico.
That would bolster the squad by five players but Docherty and his staff are still looking for additions ahead of the Premiership season.
“Yeah, I think everyone knows we need to add a few more,” he told Courier Sport.
“I’ve said all summer it’s important we bring in the right ones because we can see in games like Fleetwood we have good ones here with the level of performance against a really good opponent.
“It’s important we get that right and don’t just rush into signings.
“We’ve seen this week we have a good squad with a great spirit about them and great fitness levels.”
More Mexicans?
After adding two from Central America, will Docherty be going back to that market?
Pineda’s availability was flagged up by Portales and the Dens boss says his search won’t be limited to just homegrown talent.
Asked if we can expect any more Mexicans, Docherty laughed: “I’m not sure about that!
“But we’re obviously looking.
“The recruitment process is very robust and we’ll continue to strengthen the squad where we can.
“It’s a small world now, we have a very good recruitment team. There are five of us on that team and we’re doing extensive work consistently.
“We’re onto each other constantly to keep our targets alive and we’ll continue searching.
“But I’ve got to say with the players I’ve got, the team spirit and work ethic they’ve shown, I’m delighted with them.”
Pineda
Portales and Pineda are yet to join up with their new team-mates as the club wait for the Home Office to process their visa applications.
On Pineda, he added: “I’m really pleased with it. We’re going through the work permit process and we just hope we can get this one done so we can get him across a wee bit quicker.
“The squad will be strengthened but if I can get the kind of performance we saw against Fleetwood out of the boys, the core of the squad we have, but keep supplementing that with good players then I’ll be happy.”
