Sancho Signs

After a near 7 month wait, Jim Duffy finally got his man today when Trinidad & Tobago international defender Brent Sancho put pen to paper on a 2 year contract with the Dark Blues. Sancho was first identified by Duffy after starring against the Dees in both games during their mid season training
camp in the Caribbean back in January.

Duffy Gets His Man

At 26, Sancho is still relatively young but Duffy revealed that his "old head" would be of great benefit to the defence – something which highlights the youthfulness of Dundee’s squad, and in particular, the backline.

Brent arrives as a free transfer after spells in his homeland, Finland and the USA. He also has substantial international experience, representing his country at several levels, including captaining their Olympic side. Brent said that he had already spoken to his national team coach who understood the importance of him settling in at Dens and did not expect extensive travel with the national team to cause any problems with his new career.

When quizzed as to whether Sancho was seen a direct replacement for Zurab Khizanishvili, Jim stressed that the new signing was a completely different player to the Georgian – bringing a bit of "muscle" to the back, as well as his good technical ability. He also acknowledged the Trinidadian has something of an eye for goal, scoring 8 goals from a central defensive position last season. Brent himself played this down reiterating that he was primarily a defender although, when a chance does present itself, he’s certainly not shy at having a go!

When Jim was asked if there were any more new faces likely to be arriving in the near future, he said he felt he had a very talented, young squad who should certainly benefit from, and be able improve on, their exploits of last year. He did say however that, if he does feel it’s necessary and the right player becomes available, then he will add more members to the squad. He also pointed out that the return of Beto Carranza is the equivalent of a great "new" signing and that if the wee Argentinean can stay free of injury he could be an extremely influential player for Dundee in the new campaign.

Jim confirmed that, after putting in gruelling, double training sessions for the past week, fans favourite Fabian Caballero WILL fly to England with the rest of the squad tomorrow. He also said how delighted he was with Fabian’s attitude since returning to Scotland and although "he’s understandably still a bit behind the rest of the boys in terms of fitness, his hard work has ensured that he won’t be much longer in catching up."

There was laughter all round when Brent was asked if he’d received any advice from countryman Russel Latapy only for Duffy to quip "Aye, to stay OUT of the nightclubs and to stay on the BACK pages".

On a separate note – both my photographer and I were extremely impressed with the condition of the new playing surface. To compare it with a bowling green simply wouldn’t do it justice!!