Who will partner new boy Caulker at heart of Dark Blues’ defence?

Dundee boss Neil McCann could not hide his frustration last week that the loss of first-choice defender Jack Hendry to Celtic just minutes before the transfer window had closed had left him unable to “push the button” on possible replacements he had lined up.

Despite that, the manager did sign Angolan international centrehalf Genseric Kusunga on Friday and now he has now pulled off a major coup by adding Steven Caulker to his squad.

His arrival means that despite the departure of Hendry and the retirement of James McPake, McCann has seven first-team centre-halves on his books once more.

Club captain Darren O’Dea and Kerr Waddell were the defensive pairing last Saturday against Ross County, while Julen Etxabeguren and Josh Meekings were injured and the forgotten man of Dens Kosta Gadzhalov was left out of the squad once again.

Caulker will obviously take time to get up to speed but, once he does, it is safe to assume that such a high-profile signing will be one of the first names on McCann’s team sheet.

Who will accompany him in the centre of defence though is anyone’s guess.

Meekings, once fit, would seem to be favourite. He had a poor game against Inverness last month but he surprisingly kept his place in the following match against Hibs with O’Dea making way for the returning Hendry.

However, there is no doubting that if Caulker can return to even close to the form that saw him capped for England, McCann really will have won the proverbial watch.

Defender Josh Meekings.