Dundee’s outgoing transfers made bigger news than their incoming ones in the summer.
Dens Park boss Paul Hartley was busy nonetheless and Courier Sport assesses how his 2016/17 new boys have done so far.
* Danny Williams and James Vincent. The duo both signed for Dundee on pre-contract agreements from Inverness Caledonian Thistle and the stories of the early part of their Dens Park careers have parallels. They have enjoyed roughly the same amount of game-time and have endured their injury issues. Whether or not they become first team regulars in the second part of the season will decide if you can call 2016/17 a success for the pair.
* Mark O’Hara. What a start this young man made. He wasn’t even a first team regular at Kilmarnock and he certainly wasn’t the most talked about summer signing for Dundee. He made an immediate impact, though. The O’Hara story has added to Paul Hartley’s reputation as having an excellent eye for potential in a player that others haven’t picked up on. The fringe defender at Rugby Park became an attacking midfielder at Dens – and a very effective one at that. After two months on the sidelines, O’Hara is back and arguably Dundee’s most important player again.
* Yordi Teijsse. It’s stating the obvious to say that taking a striker from the Dutch amateurs is a gamble and, so far, you would have a hard task arguing that it has paid off. Four starts in league and cup and one goal aren’t statistics any striker would want to shout from the rooftops. It would be harsh to count him out already, though. Teijsse deserves to be cut a bit of slack for making such a big career jump. It should be clear by the summer whether this is an experiment worth persevering with.
* Faissal El Bakhtaoui. The Dunfermline man going from league One to the Premiership isn’t quite the quantum leap that Teijsse made but it’s still a significant one. Plenty of top flight clubs had looked at El Bakhtaoui and, given his goal scoring exploits with Dunfermline, they would have been mad not to. He even went on trial with Blackburn in the close-season. Hartley took the plunge and despite a goal against Kilmarnock there weren’t many instant rewards. His exquisite close control has never been in doubt and it would appear he has the character to make this work. After blowing a great chance to earn Dundee a point at Celtic Park, El Bakhtaoui scored in the 3-0 win against St Johnstone before the January break. He’ll be raring to get going again next weekend.
* Kevin Gomis. There have been extreme highs and lows for Gomis. He has been a colossus one week and error-prone the next. He probably has more ticks than crosses, though. Overall, it was a decent bit of business from Hartley to get the Frenchman to Dens on a one-year loan.
* Tom Hateley. The former Motherwell man was one of the Premiership’s best right-backs in his time at Fir Park. Hartley has used him in midfield and he is one of the first names on the teamsheet. The fact that all of his 16 appearances have been in the starting XI tells its own story. Hateley’s dead-ball delivery is first class and, long-term, he will no doubt benefit from a full pre-season in the summer, which he didn’t get this term.
* Michael Duffy. Signed on loan from Celtic, Duffy looked a decent prospect in his debut against Alloa in pre-season. It hasn’t really happened for him at Dens in the season proper, though. It is now understood his loan could be cut short, with Hartley linked with a few attacking midfielders.
* Marcus Haber. The Canadian was picked up as a free agent in October. The ex-St Johnstone man had popped up at several lower league clubs in England without truly making a name for himself. He has been an asset for Hartley though, scoring three goals and doing a good job in getting Dundee up the pitch and winning more than his fair share of balls in the air. A partnership with Craig Wighton has been developing nicely, albeit the link-up hasn’t been quite as effective in recent games.
