On the surface it may seem Dundee’s loan signing Seny Dieng is only at Dens Park to provide cover while No 1 goalie Jack Hamilton is recovering from injury.
However, the Swiss-born stopper is determined to have more than just a watching brief during his time as a dark blue.
The 24-year-old has been brought in from English Championship outfit QPR because Hamilton is to have surgery on a damaged finger that was getting progressively worse in the weeks leading up to the winter break.
The former Hearts man had been willing to play through the pain to help his team in their battle to get away from the top flight.
However, after consulting a specialist he was warned continuing to play could lead to a more serious problem and that was a risk his manager Jim McIntyre was not prepared to take.
It means Hamilton now faces a spell on the sidelines after the operation and the delicate nature of the procedure means it’s not clear how long he is going to be out.
That left Elliott Parish as the only experienced keeper on the books, hence the reason Dieng has been brought on a temporary basis.
It’s odds-on that Parish will get the nod when the winter break ends and the Dark Blues get back to action in what looks a very tricky Scottish Cup tie against in-form Championship outfit Queen of the South at Dens this weekend.
Dieng understands that but has made it clear he’s not headed north just to spectate.
“I am always up to challenges. I didn’t know too much about the team before I came here but my first impressions are very good,” said the man who had spells with Red Star Zurich and Grasshoppers back in his homeland, before switching to London in 2016.
“Getting in the team and helping Dundee will be a real challenge to stay up in the league but I like that kind of challenge. I’m sure we can definitely do it.”
A sign of the confidence he has that he can succeed in getting game time and Jim McIntyre’s team will be successful in their battle for survival, comes with the revelation that he has turned down pretty much a guarantee of a regular game in England for the rest of the season to come to Dundee.
He spent much of the first half of the campaign out on loan at English League Two side Stevenage, chalking up five clean sheets in 16 appearances.
Knowing that Hamilton had a problem that was likely to lead to his now confirmed spell on the sidelines, it was while he was there that Dundee watched him and identified him as the preferred option as another first-team squad keeper.
And when Dieng heard of that interest, his mind was made up over where he wanted to spend the second half of the season.
“The loan with Stevenage was to January and when I started playing and played well they wanted extend the loan for the rest of the season,” he explained.
“But when I heard Dundee wanted me there wasn’t even a discussion, it was clear I was going to come here. Dundee are a big club and in the Scottish Premiership.”
While Dieng hasn’t made the breakthrough into the first team at QPR, loans spells at non-league pair Whitehawk and Hampton & Richmond Borough before he headed to Stevenage this term, means he has been playing regularly over the past couple of seasons or so.
And having been able to have him watched, Dens boss Jim McIntyre believes he has a goalkeeper he can rely on.
He said: “We’ve been beavering away to make sure we bring in someone who is more than capable. We’ve been able to watch Seny and we know we are getting a good quality keeper.”
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