Dundee manager Tony Docherty has bolstered his attacking options with the capture of international striker Amadou Bakayoko.
The 27-year-old has spent his entire career in the English lower leagues and joins from Forest Green Rovers on a season-long loan.
The 6ft 4in frontman will add “physicality” to the Dark Blues forward line.
At Forest Green, Bakayoko played under Duncan Ferguson but couldn’t prevent the slide towards relegation from League One.
Prior to that move Bakayoko had been a regular at League One level, turning out for Bolton Wanderers, Coventry City and Walsall.
‘Blend’
Dundee boss Tony Docherty told the club website: “Amadou is someone we have been monitoring all summer and was someone that came to our attention through our contacts down south.
“At 27 he is a player that is hungry, he did really well in terms of his overall play and goalscoring whilst at Coventry and Bolton.
“We’ve had him up and he’s looked round the facilities, as he had other suitors in England but he has decided that he wants to come to Scotland and join us.
“We want to have a blend of strikers at the club, what Amadou will bring is his physicality, he’s a very good link player and good with his back to goal.
“We feel he will complement the existing strikers that we already have at the club. He’s a target man who is big and strong and will link the play.”
International
The 6ft 4in frontman has scored 31 goals in League One and 54 in all competitions across his 302 career appearances.
He also spent a season with Coventry in the Championship but failed to score in 14 appearances.
Amadou joins the Dark Blues!
Dundee Football Club are thrilled to announce the signing of striker Amadou Bakayoko.
The 6ft 4 centre-forward joins us on a season long-loan deal from Forest Green Rovers, subject to International Clearance. https://t.co/NpxlmEAMlB #thedee pic.twitter.com/Y8fuKT1Qyg
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) July 27, 2023
Last season was also a poor one in front of goal for the striker, scoring just once in 39 league appearances for Bolton and Forest Green.
Bakayoko said: “I am delighted to be able to come and play for this club in the Scottish Premiership and I am looking forward to the challenges ahead.”
While at Bolton in March 2022, Bakayoko was called up to the Sierra Leone national team and has scored once in six international appearances.
That came in a 1-0 win over Liberia. His last international appearance came in a 4-0 friendly defeat to South Africa in September where he was a team-mate of former Dundee defender Steven Caulker.
