Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass confirmed his summer rebuild is close to being completed although he still wants another striker.
United States international striker Christian Ramirez increased Glass’ summer additions to six as the 30-year-old signed on until summer 2023.
Glass insists his business is close to being completed as his squad reconstruction focused on quality over quantity.
The Reds gaffer has also signed Scott Brown, Declan Gallagher, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Teddy Jenks and Jack Gurr.
Glass will also challenge Pittodrie’s youth stars to push into first team contention in the upcoming 2021-22 season.
On his transfer window rebuild, Glass said: “At the moment, it’s close to being finished.
“It’s important that we remember the amount of players that we’ve brought in.
“If you look at it in isolation and think we’ve announced Christian and Declan this week.
“If we announced all the signings we have made today, everybody would be buzzing with it.
“The players we have added are quality.
“We’ve not added huge numbers, but we’ve got young players coming through as well that appeared last year and now they’re threatening the first team positions.
“It’s important to remember what we’ve added and what we’ve got coming through as well.
“Right from the start, Scott came in early, Christian Ramirez, Declan Gallagher and JET have joined us.
“They are all really attractive signings.
“Teddy Jenks comes in from Brighton to help us compete in midfield and has a great pedigree as a youth international with England.
“Jack Gurr has come in from Atlanta who is going to be a big addition as well.
“Gary Woods has also signed a permanent contract and having a number two who can push Joe (Lewis) is important and I think it’s important we’ve got that right across the pitch.”
Signing another striker would be ideal
Glass has only two experienced strikers signed for the upcoming campaign with summer acquisitions Ramirez and Emmanuel-Thomas.
Ramirez and Emmanuel-Thomas have both been secured on two year deals and are set to make their debuts in the Uefa Europa Conference League second qualifying round tie with BK Hacken at Pittodrie on July 22.
✈️ He’s arrived @ABZ_Airport. 🔴 #StandFree | @Chris_Ramirez17 pic.twitter.com/BRhRwI5JiD
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) June 30, 2021
Teenage striker Michael Ruth, 19, has made two substitute appearances for the Dons and was on loan at Arbroath for a spell last season.
Falkirk, managed by former Aberdeen U21 coach Paul Sheerin, have launched a bid to bring Ruth to the club on loan.
Sheerin left the Dons in the close season to take charge at the Bairns and has reportedly identified Ruth as the striker to lead the club’s League One title challenge.
Glass admits he will ideally sign another experienced striker this summer.
He said: “Christian Ramirez and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas are both proven goal scorers.
“It would be ideal if we could get another striker.
“Michael Ruth is part of the group and he’s a very good finisher.”
Signing Ramirez is no gamble
Aberdeen thrashed out a fee with Major League Soccer for Ramirez, understood to be £180,000 ($250,000).
The club then had to secure a work visa for the international striker who touched down in the Granite City on Tuesday morning after flying in from Houston.
Glass insists there is no gamble in signing Ramirez who has a strong track record in the MLS and has been capped twice by the United States.
He said: “He’s a pure number nine and a really experienced centre forward.
“Anybody who plays for the American national team up top has got a lot to offer.
“I think you see the boys who are playing up front for them now, like Daryl Dike, and they’re talking about £20 million for guys like that.
“The level of player we’re getting is very high.
“Christian is a proven goal scorer and has a great presence about him.
“Bringing a player of that age, they’re not on crazy long contracts, and I think it’s less of a gamble than bringing in a 25, 26-year-old on a three-year contract and it doesn’t work out after six months to a year.
“We’ve seen that in the past.
“We’re more confident of what we’re getting and what they’ll add to the youth at the club.
“We’ve got a couple of real focal points there now and the expectation is they’re goal scorers.
“They’re our players, they’re not loan people in trying to fill gaps.”
Pre-season friendlies to be played behind closed doors
Aberdeen returned for pre-season training on Monday June 21 at the club’s £13m Cormack Park training facility.
Glass and his side will step up their preparations with a pre-season closed door friendly against Cove Rangers at Cormack Park on Thursday.
They will then host Inverness Caley Thistle at the training facility next week.
Then on the week starting July 12 the Dons will host St Johnstone and Reading on the same day at Cormack Park in the build up to European action.
Glass said: “Pre-season has been good and we’ve been in for 10 days.
“The boys had Sunday off after six hard days off.
“The quality has been really, really good.
“The fact they’ve came back in good shape means we can get into the football stuff really quickly.
“I think the players are happy about that, they’re happy the work they did in the summer is bearing fruit.
“We’ve got a number of games arranged behind closed doors.
“We just felt this year it was important to control the environment instead of going to England, Ireland or abroad and losing days travelling.”
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Featuring:
– Covid concern at Caley Thistle (@PaulChalk4 @andydskinner)
– Title success for Aberdeen Women (@smarti51) and the arrival of Christian Ramirez at Pittodrie (@EESeanWallace)https://t.co/IX0D5HiSGE pic.twitter.com/5aHKKrQQiY— EveningExpress Sport (@ee_sport) June 30, 2021
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