Killie boss Derek McInnes says he’s ready to dip into the market when the January transfer window opens next week.
And while they’re keen to bolster the numbers defensively, the gaffer insists that’s far from the only area of the pitch where they’ll be looking to make improvements.
Centre-back Stuart Findlay remains out for a further three months, with their defensive numbers having taken an even greater hit at points in recent weeks with Robbie Deas being suspended and Joe Wright having had to come off injured at half-time in their loss against Rangers and play through a swollen eye in their home win over Hearts.
That’s led to there only being two available senior centre-backs in the squad on occasion.
McInnes said: “Defensively, we’re a wee bit short on numbers. But it’s not the only area we’d like to strengthen if we could. Like every manager, I’ll look to try and bring some reinforcements in if we can.
“There might be one or two of the lads looking to move on and get regular football as well, which is natural.
“January is such a difficult month to improve your starting XI unless you’ve got bundles of cash to spend, which we don’t. We’ll certainly try to see if we can get some reinforcements in to help us.”
One such reinforcement within the squad has been midfielder Kyle Magennis after the 26-year-old returned from a year-long injury this month.
He was able to get 20 minutes in Friday night’s draw at Motherwell, having made his return as a late substitute two weeks earlier against Dundee United.
McInnes said: “We’re just trying to move him along at his own pace really. He’s got so much to his game – he can do a bit of everything. We train him a day, then have him in the gym the next and then a running day. He doesn’t do two consecutive training days.
“His general fitness is good and the more minutes he gets then the more encouragement he’ll get.
“In both games he’s come on and he nearly scored the winner at Tannadice and then he nearly scored against Motherwell. He gets into the right areas.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to work with him and I’m buzzing for him that he’s actually back in the frame of things.”
Looking ahead to his former side visiting Rugby Park on Boxing Day, McInnes believes Killie are in a much better place to take on Aberdeen than the last time the sides met back in August at Pittodrie.
Killie had just come off a Europa Conference League clash with Tromso while the Dons were flying high. McInnes, though, insists it will be a much more even affair than that one – when the hosts ran out commanding 2-0 winners.
He commented: “It was a good time to play us at the start of the season for a lot of these teams. I said to my players at the time that the next time they played Aberdeen we’d be far more ready and able to deal with that type of fixture. Hopefully, we can go back that up on Boxing Day.”
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