LILYWHITES CLOSE IN ON NEW SIGNINGS

NEW Dundalk FC sporting director Jim Magilton says the club are ‘very close’ to adding a couple of new signings to their ranks for next season.

So far Norwegian striker Ole Erik Midtskogen is the only new arrival confirmed at Oriel Park for the 2021 campaign.

However, the club are hopeful of tying down up to seven new additions in the coming weeks. This includes two internationals, one of whom is understood to be centre half Sonni Nattestad - the 31-times capped Faroe Islands international who The Argus exclusively revealed head coach Filippo Giovagnoli was interested in last week.

Also understood to be on the club’s radar is a Latvian midfielder, a Canadian player and two goalkeepers, one an Albanian and the other an American.

Asked when fans could expect to see further new arrivals at Oriel Park, Magilton said: ‘ We can say that we’re very close to a few things. We’ve got two internationals lined up and we’re not very far away from either of them but it’s just about having a little bit more conversation and we should get over the line.

‘We’ll be delighted with both acquisitions. One is a centre half and the other one can play across both full back areas and wide areas.

‘We’re delighted that we’ve managed to speak to them. Filippo has done a fantastic job in communicating with those guys and their agents and we’re very close.’

Magilton also revealed another player was also close and spoke about the importance mentality would be when it came to bringing in any new recruits.

‘We’ve got another exciting one coming that we think is going to be a good player too.

‘We really like the shape of him and what he could bring to the table in terms of pace and power and the ability to play.

‘He plays down one of the sides. He’s a left footed kid as well so we’re giving ourselves options. We want flexibility and adaptability in the team as well, with the option obviously to change shape but it’s really about their attitude to the game.

‘It’s people in that mould that we’re looking for.

‘We’re trying to bring a culture to the football club. Not every foreign player that comes to a football club changes the culture but they bring with them a different attitude. When I was at a club and we got a foreign acquisition we always looked to see if we could pick things up from him and that’s the mentality that we’re trying to bring in and we want to be very open minded about how we do that.

‘We’re speaking to our senior players when we’re discussing this and we’re getting buy in. We want the players to take ownership of this.

‘We’ve had extensive conversations with the players that we’ve identified. You can speak to a player and say you’re not sure about him. It’s very difficult at the moment because we’re only speaking to them via Zoom calls or phone calls. An agent can tell you the M25 isn’t busy and send you a video but when you see it yourself you can say it’s chock-a-blocked.’

Magilton also confirmed the club’s interest in South Korean winger Han Eui-Gwon.

‘We have spoken to him and his agent. He is extremely keen to come but we just have to work on the finer details and with the FAI in terms of getting work permits but he’s certainly someone we’re looking to bring in. He excites me a lot.

‘We’re looking to expose and expand the brand as far as possible but he’s also a good player.

‘If we can attract players from that part of the world it means that the Dundalk FC brand gets more exposure, the league gets more exposure and it could then open opportunities for other players to come into the league and we know that Korean players bring a fantastic attitude and work ethic and they’re top, top people,’ said Magilton.

Magilton dismissed speculation linking the club with a move for Linfield’s former Waterford and Limerick midfielder, Bastien Hery, but did express the view that Dundalk would need another midfielder.

‘It’s always important to have a strong spine,’ he said.‘You can flit around the edges but we’re still looking at potentially another midfield player.

‘We like the shape of our attack. We’ve got David McMillan re-signed again, you’ve got Pat Hoban, who I’m sure will come back firing on all cylinders and we’ve got Ole now so there’s a nice combination there. We’ve filled in some of the blanks in the wide areas. I still think we’re a midfield player short and we’ll be looking to probably strengthen in that area.’

On the goalkeeper situation, Magilton said the club had a number of options.

‘Nothing is done until it’s done but there are a lot of options there. There are a lot of lot of irons in the fire and hopefully we get the right ones.’

WE KNOW THAT KOREAN PLAYERS BRING A FANTASTIC ATTITUDE AND WORK ETHIC AND THEY’RE TOP, TOP PEOPLE.