Steven Hammell insists Motherwell are well ahead with their January shopping list as he looks to get at least two key signings in the door.
The Steelemen face a big window according to the boss who has targets in his sights despite the mid-season signing frenzy not officially beginning for another two months. Hammell has been hampered by injuries to big players including Louis Moult, Rolando Aarons and Joe Efford who has been ruled out until the new year after undergoing surgery on a torn thigh muscle.
It means Well have had to turn to their youth team to fill their quota of substitutes in recent weeks. But Hammell says a budget has been set aside to recruit in January - and transfer targets have already been identified. He said: “That’s something we have already spoken about. We are not getting too far ahead but you need to plan on what we can do short term.
“The long term plan of the club we have already tried to put in place with the young boys going out on loan, that’s not something that’s going to help the club right now, it’ll be a year or two to see the fruits of that. But the short term .. we sit here til 8pm every night and plan.
“This week we have looked at potential targets in January. For sure that is going to be a big window for us in terms of getting a couple of options in the building.
“It’s no secret we need a couple in. There’s flexibility to do that. We won’t fill the squad with people who are just going to be squad players.
“We need to be clever and confident with it. There’s always a gamble with recruitment of course but it’s something we are planning for already.”
Hammell may only be three months into his first job as a boss but working with the club’s dedicated scouting and recruitment staff to pin down potential signings is a part of the job he has found rewarding. He said: “Absolutely, it’s part of the job and is something we’re good at.
“We have staff dedicated to it and their application is excellent. The knowledge, tapping into that on a daily basis, we have debates about everything in football and the recruitment staff is similar to that. The coaching staff, sports science, analysis .. everyone pulls together and that will just make us better.”
Despite their injury problems Well returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory at Dundee United on Saturday after losing four on the spin. A trip to face Hearts on Sunday is up next and Hammell said: “I’m delighted with Saturday’s result. The message all week was ‘how do we win this game?’
“If it has to be a scrappy 1-0 we’ll take it. I think we’re better than that but Saturday was about getting the three points. We needed it. The last few results weren’t good enough.
“The fans that came along helped us so much, they got behind us and it makes a difference. If we continues to get that backing it’ll be massive for us getting to where we want to be.”
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