Jim Goodwin has received a major boost with Tony Watt making an “incredible” recovery from ankle surgery.
The striker suffered the injury last season while on loan at St Mirren.
Now, Goodwin is looking for Watt to kick-start his career at Tannadice once more, hopefully by playing some part in the Viaplay Cup group campaign.
Watt was named vice-captain of the Tannadice outfit on Friday night, assisting skipper Ross Docherty; a testament to his renewed importance to the club after a tumultuous 2022/23 campaign.
Goodwin revealed: “Tony Watt has made incredible progress compared to when the surgeon had predicted he would be available.
“That is great credit to Tony’s attitude to the rehabilitation progress but also to the medical team at Dundee United who have been working so hard on him.
“He is one that could be a very important player for us, not just in this League Cup group stage but into the league campaign.
“We are hopeful of him being involved in these upcoming League Cup games.
“But we need to have a discussion with the medical and sports science teams with regards to what kind of minutes we can get him.
Tony Watt was the match winner for the Terrors in Perth
Who will come out on top this time out?#cinchPrem | 😇 #STJUTD 🍊 pic.twitter.com/99AUukthEP
— SPFL (@spfl) May 5, 2023
“We don’t want to ask him to play 90 minutes when, physically, he isn’t able to do it. We need to be sensible and make sure we don’t run the risk of him breaking down.”
Striker search
Despite Watt’s imminent return to action, Goodwin is still determined to add another striker following the departure of Steven Fletcher.
The manager added: “We have narrowed it down now to three individuals. We are having continuous dialogue with those players.
“I am pleased with the targets we have identified and conversations are quite positive with them all. We just need to get to a conclusion with one of them. I would like to think in the next seven days we would have an addition in the forward area.”
