Courts planning six new faces in

TAM Courts has revealed that Dundee United will target at least “five or six” summer signings as the prospect of a European adventure edges closer to becoming a reality.

Courts has acknowledged that United must strengthen in wide areas, attack and prepare for a likely exodus of midfielder options.

The loan deals of regular starters Dylan Levitt and Marc McNulty expire at the end of the current campaign.

The likes of Kevin McDonald, Benjamin Siegrist, Max Biamou and Adrian Sporle will soon be out of contract.

And while United are hopeful of convincing Ian Harkes to extend his stay at Tannadice, uncertainty hangs over the future of Calum Butcher.

All of which means sporting director Tony Asghar will be charged with overseeing a busy close season.

Courts is not shying away from the challenge ahead, with regular recruitment meetings now taking place.

“When I came in last year, it almost felt like we had to build a relationship with the players, coach them, get a team on the pitch and there were also players looking to move on,” Courts said.

“Whereas, this year, it is nice to be able to feel like we can talk about recruitment — because, ultimately, we are going to need five, six or upwards of that in the summer.

“Recruitment is very topical at the moment, which is nice. At this stage, we are having all the right conversations. There are a number of players out of contract. There were a couple (of players) in January that we decided not to fully replace because we didn’t really have the targets identified.

“So, it’s going to be a really busy summer for us.”

He added: “We’ll need reinforcements in wide areas, the striker position and there are a couple of players who are out of contract in the midfield areas; we’ll need to make contingency plans for that.

“Because Max Biamou has not played a lot due to being injured, that type of profile — a physical presence — has also been missing.

Five or six signings in the summer is probably the level required.”

Courts meanwhile believes recent criticism of Siegrist stems from the United goalkeeper’s own lofty standards.

The Tannadice stopper — the club’s player of the year last season — has endured a couple of ropey moments in recent months.

Siegrist made a high-profile blunder to allow Georgios Giakoumakis to ripple the net in Celtic’s 3-0 win at Tannadice in March.

Questions were asked of his efforts for both Dundee goals in the recent 2-2 derby draw.

Even against Hearts last month,

Marc McNulty had to go off against Motherwell. Tam Courts (left) has praised Dundee United keeper Benjamin Siegrist