Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon is more than happy to take his time over potential signings despite the new season kicking off in just over a fortnight.
With promotion a must this campaign, the Tangerines gaffer knows there won’t be any room for mistakes when it comes to bringing in new faces.
Already he’s snapped up James Keatings, Billy King, Tam Scobbie and Paul McMullan, and is hoping to get Fraser Fyvie through the door.
That deal has stalled despite the player having completed his medical.
The manager is also taking a look at former Ross County defender Paul Quinn in training this week.
All four players signed came in after plenty of background checks and scouting with McKinnon knowing how big a season it is for the Tangerines.
He said: “I have to get it right with each signing.
“That’s just the reality of where we are right now. Most people get that.
“That means we are looking at every single aspect of our targets, speaking to as many people we can about them.
“Our dressing-room is brilliant. You hear people elsewhere talking about bad eggs but that’s not the case here.
“We will be working with a small number, so we need everybody to be on the same page. They all need to buy into what we are trying to do.
“That means being the same type — training hard and setting high standards on the park.
“We need to get this club back in the Premiership and to do so we need the right types.”
There are still more to come in with the manager aiming for a squad of 18, backed up by a couple of youth players.
And the Tannadice gaffer is happy with the progress made this summer, particularly with the way the club goes about their business these days with their new head of football operations, Darren Taylor.
“We have improved massively,” added McKinnon.
“We didn’t have any sort of recruitment policy in place before and the club needs that.
“To be fair to Darren, he has been working so hard, heading down to places like Southampton.
“He has been targeting players to follow up and that has helped me a lot.
“That is a huge benefit for us and upstairs on my desk is a long list of names.”
