Dundee United boss Csaba Laszlo is close to finalising his pre-season plans, with as many as four fresh faces on their way and two more fixtures pencilled in.
Laszlo has already recruited nine new players over the summer and the whole lot of them had at least part of the game as the Tangerines won 2-0 in their first pre-season match against Brechin at Glebe Park on Tuesday night.
Next up is a training match at St Andrews against Raith Rovers on Saturday then the hope is that there will be another friendly, probably at Tannadice, before the Betfred Cup campaign starts with a home clash against Arbroath on July 14.
By then the total of arrivals should be sitting at or near 13.
Laszlo confirmed: “We are not finished with our recruitment.
“Definitely, we are working to get the players we need for next season.
“I am planning for the budget and maybe four players.
“If we can get the ones we need – they are already in the frame – it will be a good thing.
“We are not bringing trialists and these will be players who are on our radar.
“All the players who come in will be ambitious and will have had other possibilities. This is good because it means Dundee United will not be their second choice.
“Some players have to make a decision and we also have to make ours.
“I would say we are working to be complete everything by maybe by the end of next week.
“We do have five or six weeks until the league begins but we want to finish our recruitment as soon as possible.”
As well as all the arrivals, there could also be departures.
The United gaffer confirmed: “If somebody wants our player we are always open to talk.
“It’s like this everywhere in football.
“Last season we had some players who left and we had some who got a new contract.
“But if some clubs come for our players we are open to that.”
Laszlo gave a heavy hint that he is viewing the Championship opener at home to Dunfermline on August 4 – and not the Betfred matches – as the start of the real season.
Nevertheless, he would still like his players to have a friendly runout on United’s own park as part of his pre-season programme.
The Hungarian added: “We have a game on Saturday and we are working to get another game next week.
“We are planning two matches but we will use the cup also as part of pre-season.
“Saturday will be a closed-door game but the one after that maybe not.
“I am not a big fan of closed-door games.
“The fans deserve to see the new team and we have a lot of new faces.”
