Stephen Robinson expects St Mirren to recruit three players during the this month’s transfer window.
The Northern Irishman plans to be active as he bids to lead the Buddies to a hat-trick of Premiership top-six finishes.
Beefing up the squad is the order of the day with Saints having endured a number of injuries and seen three players depart in the wake of off-field matters.
Saints chief Robbo confirmed left wing-back Declan John has agreed to stay until the end of the season with the option of a further extension on the table in the summer.
He will be joined by other new faces with Robbo and head of recruitment Martin Foyle already having irons in the fire.
Ahead of Thursday’s new year trip to Kilmarnock, the gaffer said: “It’s a balance between having too many and bringing the right players in.
“We’re actively speaking to two or three players at this moment in time. I don’t think we will bring more than three in.
“We’ve got a good squad, we’ve proved that. We’ve lost three players that we haven’t been able to replace for various reasons so we need to bring in a little more competition into the squad.
“St Mirren got into Europe so how do you better that? With the resources that we have, it’s difficult to bring in players that are better than what we have.
“What you have to do is bring players in who can take three or four months to develop. Now we’re seeing Oisin Smyth and Ellery Balcombe coming to the fore. We’ve got players who are starting to look the part. Killian Phillips hit the ground running – some do, some don’t.”
Robbo added: “Declan is a very good footballer and he’s been out and will get better with time.
“We knew our signings strengthened the squad but we weren’t sure if they would strengthen the starting XI because we don’t always have the finances to do that.”
Meanwhile, Robbo will assess the future of short-term signing Charles Dunne – who is out of contract this month – once he gets the all clear following a hamstring injury.
“Charles’ contract is up in early January — we’ll make a judgement call when we know his fitness levels.”
Saints will have Scott Tanser back from suspension for the Rugby Park showdown but Conor McMenamin (calf) is a doubt.
On the Killie test, Robbo said: “It will be a tough game. They’re organised, well-disciplined and we’ll have to find a way to win.”
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