He’s the signing who slipped in under the radar only a few hours before the first competitive game.
But in just a few weeks, Sam Stanton has become a big player for Dundee United.
That’s the opinion of Tangerines gaffer Ray McKinnon who described the loan capture from Hibs as “different class”.
“Technically Sam’s absolutely brilliant and I think he’s a boy with a really good football brain,” said Ray.
“He has good athleticism and I thought he was absolutely first class on Sunday against Dundee.
“He’s another one who can play in a few positions. We can use him in the No 10 role, just behind the striker, or he can play deeper.
“He can even play wide if we need him out there.
“He’s just a really good football player and you can’t have enough of them at your football club.”
Ray is still working on adding at least one more body, probably a midfielder, and if he’s successful he believes he’ll have a squad capable of being in the thick of it for the Championship promotion race.
Right now it looks unlikely he’ll make a signing before Saturday’s opener at Inverness Caley Thistle.
“We are trying to get to 18 very good players,” he added.
“We had a very good starting team on the park on Sunday and we still had Scott McDonald, James Keatings, Willo Flood, Patrick N’Koyi, Stewart Murdoch and Cammy Bell as well.
“We have a very good nucleus of a squad. If we can get one more player in we will have a very good one.
“I’m hopeful of doing that but I will need to move things around a bit and that can take time.
“It something we’re working hard on.”
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