McKenna Pleased With Deadline Day Additions Friday, 2nd Sep 2022 10:36 Blues boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking about his two deadline day signings, Gassan Ahadme and Panutche Camara. McKenna says he’s very happy with his two final additions, summer signings eight and nine. “Very pleased,” he said. “Two players who we’ve watched for quite a while and had them identified as players who could fit the profiles that we’re looking for. They bring qualities that we wanted to add to the group. “We always wanted to bring in another forward players with an extra bit of height and physical presence into the group that would an addition to us across the season and could add different things and Gassan certainly brings that as well as being a young and extremely player who has room to develop and improve. “Pan has been a high performer in the league for the last couple of seasons, a player who really stood out to us last season when we were watching Plymouth. “He didn’t play against us in the game because be was on international duty but was absolutely stand out in watching them in the build-up to that game, so he’s very much been on the radar since. “We felt like we needed that extra attacking midfield option, who could fill a couple of different roles to make sure that we have the protection and the depth that will allow us to be successful across the season. “A really good player, I think will improve here, has scope to improve coming to this football club and working in our group and can hopefully help us go to another level.” Ahadme has made an impressive start to the season, scoring five times for Burton Albion in the opening weeks and picking up two assists. “He has,” McKenna agreed. “We saw him quite a bit last season, even his games for Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy when he played alongside Marcus Harness. “I’ve watched a lot of games since I’ve been in the job and you see different players and different competitions and he was a really interesting profile of a forward that we saw from last year and obviously he’s had a really good pre-season, so we’ve been monitoring him through that and the start of the season. “We got a good first-hand look at him against Burton a few weeks ago and he brought all the things we’d been seeing on the videos, so that was another really good step. “He started the season in good form, thankfully he’s fit and ready to go and make an impact for us.”  McKenna says the pair are versatile players: “I think they both have a couple of different options. I think Panutche is very capable to play either as an attacking eight for us or as a number 10 or an attacking midfielder or inside forward off of either side. “I think his position at Plymouth was more akin to a right-sided 10 almost, but we think he’s got the potential to really develop as a box-to-box number eight from a deeper position as well. “Ahadme has played different positions, we think he’s a really good number nine, who is very comfortable playing with his back to goal and attacking crosses and bringing others into play, but he’s also played as an attacking midfielder. “He’s also played as a number 10, so we think he can be versatile within the squad.” McKenna says Town fans will have to wait a little bit before getting to see Camara, who has missed the start of the season with a groin problem. “Panutche we need to be a little bit careful with, he’s going to join in with the training group today but he hasn’t trained very much over the last few weeks with the issue that he’s had,” he said. “We’re going to have to be a little bit more patient with him, make sure that we get him right and get him up to speed and make sure that medically he’s absolutely fine. So we won’t see him this weekend. “Gassan is fit and available, obviously hasn’t trained with the group yet but is going to be available for selection for the squad for Saturday.” McKenna says he would have been happy with his squad whether he had made the final two additions or otherwise. “I would have been in that position either way,” he insisted. “I said last week I was comfortable with what we had, but you can see how quickly things can change with Sone Aluko’s injury the other night and Conor picking up a little something in the warm-up. “It’s a long season and there are a lot of games and we want to have a deep squad to be able to withstand the rigours of the season. “I think we’re happy with the squad, I think the numbers are right, it’s not too deep, I don’t feel like there’s anyone here who is too far away from playing. “Everybody I think in the squad feels as though they’ve got a chance and have got a crack at it and if they perform well will get minutes in the league and in the cups as well. “I think we have good numbers, I think we have a good balance to the squad. I think primarily we have a really hungry squad of players who want to be here for the short and long-term and want to be part of the journey with the club.”
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