Dundee head coach Steven Pressley is prioritising the signing of a central defender before the Premiership opener against Celtic. The move would allow Aaron Donnelly to leave on loan to Dunfermline Athletic.
The Pars have agreed a season-long loan for the Northern Irish international, but the deal is conditional on Dundee bringing in another centre back.
Transfer priorities
Pressley wants to add three to four more players to his squad, with a defender the immediate focus. “Definitely three or potentially four (signings),” he confirmed. “That is if nothing changes within our squad. We probably need somebody in a defensive position quite quickly - as a priority. Beyond that we have positions we want to add to, but we can be a little bit more patient on.”
Summer signings
Pressley has been active this summer, bringing in goalkeeper Owen Goodman, Idris Odutayo, Owen Bevan, Ryan Finnigan, Alan Forrest and Zan Besir. He noted: “I am really pleased with a lot of aspects of the squad. What I would say is that we haven’t bought ready-made players. That is the difficulty. It is like last season, it will take time and hard work, spending thus on the training ground before we are anywhere near where we want to be. That is the truth and the challenge. That is why we get more stability about the group because we can’t have a churn every year. I think we have brought in a lot of players we feel we can make better. I am happy but it will take time.”
Closed-door friendly
Dundee do not start their league campaign until Monday, when they travel to Celtic Park. This has allowed Pressley to arrange a closed-door game against Bristol Rovers on Wednesday to give minutes to fringe players. “Several of the players who came up slightly later or have been injured will play their part,” he said. “We have got Alan Forrest, Zan Besir, Joe Westley, Brad Halliday and Fin Robertson, who missed some of the pre-season with an ankle injury. All these players have missed chunks of pre-season or have come in later. We want to get them additional minutes going into the new season. So it will be a really worthwhile exercise. That is one of the positives of having the game on the Monday. It gives us a few extra days to get everybody up to speed. From our perspective, it has given us another window of opportunity to get this game arranged with Bristol Rovers. Normally, we would have a free week but the extra three days mean we are able to organise this game.”
Injury updates
Dundee will be without Imari Samuels and Callum Jones for the first four to five weeks of the season. Pressley explained: “Imari and Callum Jones will both be four to five weeks. It is a shame because Imari had a really positive season. We saw real growth in Imari. I am disappointed for him that he hasn’t had the chance to build on that. They are the only injury worries.”
