Dundee closing in on additions, says McPake

DUNDEE boss James McPake says the Dark Blues are close to making their first additions of the January transfer window.

With other clubs already doing swift business in the winter window, a week into January fans are anxious at a seeming lack of action on the transfer front at Dens Park.

However, McPake has assured them the Dark Blues are hard at work to get deals over the line.

They are in talks to bring former Inter Miami midfielder Jay Chapman, a Canada international, to Dens Park and have ex-Dundee United man Paul Watson on trial.

And McPake says they could be in a position to announce new faces soon.

He said: “We’re hoping to make the right ones.

“We are working on them and have been for a while.

“We know what this window is like, we have experienced it.

“You see some clubs making signings now, some do it on the very last day.

“We have our targets and there is a lot of work going on in the background to try to first get them to buy into what we are trying to do and then to get them over the line.

“We are close. The way things are going, it is a tricky window because clubs are holding on to players thinking they might need them.”

A meeting with managing director John Nelms on Wednesday to discuss their transfer business had been revealed in the media.

But McPake says that was nothing more than a face-to-face after returning to work following time off rather than a belated meeting to thrash out this month’s dealings.

The Dens boss said: “That was done in November and we’ve spoken through December.

“We have spoken every day since Boxing Day.”

He added: “We have worked on a plan since the summer and through the last couple of months and we have targets.

“There are targets we want in now but there are also targets we have identified for the summer coming.”

Meanwhile, Lee Ashcroft has signed a new contract with the Dark Blues.

Ashcroft, 28, has penned a deal that will see him remain at Dens Park until the summer of 2023.

The towering centre-half joined the Dark Blues from Dunfermline in the summer of 2020 and has gone on to make 51 appearances for the club.

As well as cutting a stoic presence at the back, Ashcroft has scored nine goals.

One of those strikes came in the promotion play-off final second leg win over Kilmarnock last May which saw Dundee earn their return to the

Premiership. Ashcroft, who came through the ranks at Killie, has been a regular for the Dee in the top-flight this term, playing 19 times and rippling the net against Motherwell and Celtic.

However, he has been absent since suffering a hamstring injury against the Steelmen in November.

The damage required surgery at the start of December, with a 12-week recovery timeframe subsequently laid out.

Dundee are actively seeking to strengthen their defensive options.

James McPake is actively looking to recruit.