Goodwin joy as wing king Durmus signs

JIM GOODWIN last night stated he has injected some much-needed pace into his St Mirren team by signing winger Ilkay Durmus on a two-year deal from Austrians FC Wacker Innsbruck. The German-born 25-year-old (pictured) had spells as a youth player at Hoffenheim and Stuttgart before signing for Genclerbirligi in Turkey in 2012. Capped by Turkey up to Under-20 level, Durmus has also had spells at Antalyaspor, Floridsdorfer, SC Austria Lustenau and SV Ried. New Buddies manager Goodwin said: ‘When I did my assessment on the team in my first couple of weeks, I felt we lacked a little bit of pace throughout the team. Ilkay gives us that in abundance. ‘He is a very attack-minded, old-fashioned winger, and players like that excite me. I think he’ll excite supporters as well. ‘He’s direct, he’s positive and he puts a great ball in. ‘He’s a couple of weeks behind with regards to pre-season training but we’ll get him up to speed.’ Durmus has revealed he has already been doing his homework. He told stmirren.com: ‘I spoke to the manager, he told me about St Mirren and it was very positive. I looked at videos of St Mirren from last season and it looked good, so I wanted to come here.’ Meanwhile, captain Stephen McGinn insists there’s no need to panic despite Saints failing to get out of a Betfred Cup group containing Dunfermline, Edinburgh City, Albion Rovers and East Kilbride. He said: ‘Obviously, the mood is frustrated. You are looking to top the group, never mind not qualify. ‘But the manager is just in the door and there’s no major panic because he’s looking to add quality.’