Darren O’Dea believes the Dundee dressing room has enough leaders to cope with the departure of club captain Kevin Thomson and the long-term absence of James McPake.
The former Celtic man is ready to take on responsibility as one of the senior pros in the Dens Park squad along with the likes of new captain Gary Harkins.
And O’Dea, who made his Dundee debut on Saturday, believes the 4-2 win against Partick Thistle shows that the Dark Blues team is still in good shape.
Thomson’s decision to ask manager Paul Hartley if he could leave came as a shock to the Irishman.
He said: “Obviously, I’m just in the door so I couldn’t tell you too much about it.
“It all happened over about 48 hours.
“I’ve known him for a number of years from playing against him and through other players.
“He’s a fantastic guy and a very good footballer and I wish him all the best.
“I was looking forward to playing with him but that’s football. People move on.
“I’d like to think we’ve got other leaders in the dressing room, probably me being one of them.
“Obviously there’s Gary Harkins. There’s plenty. There’s a mix of younger and older players and a lot of hunger. I’ve not been here long but so far, so good.”
O’Dea was brought in as a result of McPake’s serious injury in the recent derby match.
He said: “I’ve not met him yet but I know that he’s a big character in our dressing room and is well liked. He’ll be missed in the dressing room as much as on the pitch.
“It’s up to other players, myself included, to take their chances when they come.”
Hartley, meanwhile, revealed that Thomson’s decision also came out of the blue as far as he was concerned.
He said: “Kevin came to us at the start of the week and asked if he could leave.
“He just felt that with the injuries he’s had he didn’t feel that, with his body, he could handle top flight football.
“We respected his decision. He’s not played a lot of games or trained a lot and I think it was a frustration.
“We didn’t want him to go. He came to us at the start of the week and asked if he could leave and we could come to an agreement. We respected that.
“It was a total shock when he came and saw me on Tuesday. We told him to sleep on it for a night but he’s made his decision.”
Hartley hopes to make one more signing, but it won’t be to replace Thomson.
“You could see from the performance today that we’ve got a strong midfield,” he pointed out.
“If we can bring one other in it will probably be an attacking player, and hopefully we can do that.”