Both Dundee teams need fresh faces to boost their ambitions for the season ahead.
Failure to add the right quality could have dire consequences for both clubs.
United can’t afford to return to the backwaters of the Championship and Dundee can’t afford to remain there.
United’s visit to Hibs offers a chance to rediscover the improved form they showed before the Rangers defeat.
Liam Fox’s side have put a narrow stretch of water between themselves and Ross County, and with a game in hand, but their second bottom position after 20 games is proof they face a ferocious scrap to clear themselves of their basement placing.
Sporting director Tony Asghar must move heaven and earth to lift the fans mood by pulling some inspired signings out of the hat and help his manager with some improved calibre in their quest to stay in the Premiership.
Incomings will invariably mean outgoings with Tony Watt one player rumoured to be heading for the exit.
Like all clubs, United need to clear the decks of those who they either feel aren’t brining enough to the party or whose particular skills aren’t what’s required at this time.
United have won against Hibs already this season and the Easter Road side are eminently beatable, having lost, like Utd, 11 times in the league.
A win in Edinburgh, followed by upgrading the squad, would boost United’s hopes of top flight survival.
‘Goals win games’ is a trite but true saying.
As George Cran revealed in Thursday’s Courier, Dundee are being outgunned by their title rivals in the net bothering department.
Zach Robinson’s seven league goals won’t be added to after he was recalled by AFC Wimbledon.
And while 19 different scorers have featured in the league and cup games, Gary Bowyer needs urgently to find someone like Ayr’s Dipo Akinyemi or Queens Park’s Simon Murray, formerly of this parish, who’ve blown defences away with 15 league goals apiece.
That kind of individual firepower could transform a Dens side which has the Championship’s second most frugal back line but a much less lavish front string.
Those hard yards won in defence mustn’t be squandered in attack, but unless someone miraculously emerges from within the ranks to supply the missing firepower, the Dark Blues will be relying on all of their contacts to identify a striker to supercharge their title tilt.
Could Bowyer go?
There’s been some concern expressed that if the board at Dens doesn’t back their manager in strengthening the team they might lose him.
Bowyer has previously admitted frustration at being gazumped for players he has targeted.
That could be caused by various factors, from the terms on offer to the unattractiveness of playing in the Championship.
Dundee have traditionally paid well as a club, but they can only fish in the ponds they can afford the permits for.
Really top class signings are probably well beyond their reach, both in terms of the lure of the division and the salaries on offer, so the contacts book for quality loan players could be a key avenue in bolstering the squad for the title challenge.
