Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes reckons the consistency of his current squad "isn't good enough" and admits he will be searching for better quality players when the window opens.
The Dons were in the midst of an inconsistent Premiership season with just 12 wins from 30 games before the Covid-19 pandemic called a stop to action across the globe.
And McInnes reckons he will be forced into some serious decisions when he gets the chance to add fresh faces at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen supremo Dave Cormack has backed his boss to the hilt as the Reds aim to regain the consistency that led to four consecutive second-placed finishes behind Celtic between 2014 and 2018.
Speaking to the Press and Journal, McInnes said: “We have wanted to try to avoid what has happened over the last couple of seasons when we have had far too many players out of contract. I kept getting asked about whether there was progress with this player or that player.
“When you get to this stage of the season if you don’t have a player signed up then you normally lose them. For the first time in a long time we have got the majority of the squad signed up.
“That gives us less work to do but we still have to do good work to improve this squad. The consistency of this squad is not good enough and we need to try to search for those improvements.
“In terms of numbers, we won’t be doing anything like the same amount of numbers.”
And the 48-year-old admits his search will begin in the free agent market before he considers any money signings for next season.
Aberdeen were active in January as they landed Dylan McGeough, Matty Kennedy and Ronald Hernandez in a bid to boost their up and down campaign.
McInnes added: “We look firstly at the out of contract list. That is always the first port of call.
“We would still like to be in the position if we feel the right one is available we can utilise the added resource on the recruitment side.
“If there are players out there that we feel we have to pay a fee for then we will put that forward to see whether we can do that or not. It will be more looking at the out of contract list than bringing four or five players in that we need to spend money on.”
