It has been one winger in and one winger out for Dundee this week.
No sooner than new loan signing Tony Yogane came in the door from Brentford did the news come that Charlie Reilly could be out for up to three months.
The broken collarbone suffered in Saturday’s friendly win over Arbroath is another in a long list of injury issues the former Hamilton and Albion Rovers star has suffered in his time as a Dee.
With a new head coach to impress, the timing couldn’t be worse.
However, Steven Pressley is hoping Reilly’s time on the sidelines won’t last as long as that worst-case three-month time frame and they can get back working together.
“He’s fractured his collarbone,” the Dens boss confirmed.
“I’m really disappointed for him because I watched a lot of his individual clips prior to coming in and I was excited to get the chance to work with him.
“He’d made a good impression in the early part of pre-season and then, very unfortunate for him, he breaks down with this injury.
“There’s talk of it being anything up to three months. I hope that’s not the case.
“I hope he returns quicker than that.
“Charlie did brilliantly to gain the penalty and then was very unfortunate with the outcome.
“He’ll bounce back. He’s been in and saw the specialist on Wednesday so we’ll have a clearer picture on the timescale after that.”
Yogane’s ‘exceptional’ skill
As much as there is disappointment over Reilly’s injury, there is excitement at the capture of Brentford youngster Yogane.
The young winger has joined from the Premier League club’s B team on a season-long loan.
Pressley knows Yogane well after working with him for the Bees with his role focusing on helping players bridge the step up from B team to first team.
“He has a real talent with his one-to-one elimination, his ability to go past players and deliver crosses,” Pressley explained.
“He’s exceptional at that part of his game.
“I think the game’s becoming more and more organised with teams being more disciplined around their defending.
“It’s really important that you have within your team players like Tony who can eliminate players and take players on.
“He had a loan spell at Exeter for the second part of last season and showed glimpses of real quality within that time.
“First loans are notoriously difficult for younger players. But some of the statistics around his loan were very, very positive.
“He’s a player that I believe will get the Dundee fans excited.
“So I’m really pleased with him.
“He’s also big, for a winger. He’s around six foot and physically very robust.
“So I think he can make a real impact north of the border.”
Will there be more from Brentford?
Pressley was namechecked in Brentford’s statement announcing Yogane’s move north of the border.
The relationship between the Dens boss and his old employers remains strong.
So could we see more players coming up from Brentford?
“The way Premier League teams work is, if they give you their loan players they want you to have a real willingness to play them,” Pressley added.
“Football, of course, works that if a player doesn’t perform then you make a change. That’s normal.
“But there must be a willingness. So any players that we do take from Premier League clubs, Brentford included, we’ve got to be sure they’re going to feature.
“There may be more in the future but I’m not sure from Brentford there will be many more this window, loan-wise.”
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