Derek's Creation

Ryan Donaldson became the first new Pilgrim to put pen to paper during the close season when he signed on Thursday, and Derek believes the midfielder, signed after he left Cambridge United, will add another level of creativity to Argyle's 2016-17 squad. 

"Ryan is an attacking midfield player," said Derek. "A player that knows the league well. He started off at Newcastle, and played in the first team there. He played with Cambridge for the last couple of seasons. 

"He is a player that likes to get on the ball. He is creative, and has good ability. In our team, the way we play, he will be suited to that. We have players in the team that are capable of finding these players with good passes. The creativity from Ryan can help us. He has good energy. In the attacking third of the pitch he will be able to get some goals for us. 

"We've watched him a number of times throughout the season; I've seen him a couple of times at games, as have the rest of the coaching staff. 

"Over the years he has done well, progressed - and this is the next step for him, to come to Argyle and push his career forward. It gives him an opportunity to play at this football club, where we get very good support."

All Pilgrims are understandably anxious to see the make-up of next season's squad, which will comprise of a number of new additions, as well as those re-signing for another season or more at Home Park. The manager, though, is satisfied with the behind-the-scenes activity so far, and is looking forward to welcoming a host of new players before pre-season begins on July 1, as well as welcoming back some familiar faces. 

"We have been very active, working on signing new players for next season," said Derek. "Over the next week or two we will have announcements to make about new signings - we'll be busy from that point of view. 

"We have a situation where we were in the play-off final at the end of May; we have to wait until June 30 for some players to give us answers. I've been looking to strengthen the team to replace players leaving the football club. 

"We had a number of loan signings last year, they need to be replaced. We are looking to have more permanent signings this year than we did last year."