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Andy Skinner: Ebbe in, but Caley Jags signings could still flow

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Little more than a week into the January transfer window, it comes as no surprise that bottom-of-the-table Caley Thistle have been one of the first Scottish Premiership clubs to strengthen.

The nature of Richie Foran’s first capture of the New Year was perhaps less predictable however, in the form of attacker Dean Ebbe from Irish third-tier side Bluebell United.

The 22-year-old is being hailed as an exciting prospect for the future by Foran, who will take great delight if his knowledge of the lower leagues of his homeland is rewarded by the unearthing of a gem.

Financially it is a fairly low-risk signing, although the chances are we will not find out for some months yet whether it was worthwhile.

Inverness’ most pressing concern is not the wait to discover if Ebbe will be a success in Scotland though – it is the far more serious issue of top-flight survival.

With Caley Jags now a point adrift of Hamilton Accies and without a victory since October – a period spanning 10 games – Foran has been left with plenty to ponder over the January break.

While the Highlanders were desperately unfortunate to come away with nothing to show for their efforts in their final three games of 2016, Foran had already made noises about freshening things up before that run of fixtures.

Caley Thistle have the worst defensive record of all 12 Premiership sides, having conceded 40 goals in 21 games so far, and it was in the wake of Inverness’ 3-0 defeat at St Johnstone early last month that Foran hinted he needed more defensive-minded players.

Further upfield, Foran remains desperate to keep Larnell Cole at the club, and that could be a key signing given the on-loan Fulham player appeared to be hitting his stride just as the winter shutdown approached.

Caley Jags have also been linked with a move to bring last season’s leading scorer Miles Storey back to the club, following his so far unsuccessful summer switch to Aberdeen.

Any deal appears unlikely unless Storey can get out of his current contract with the Dons, but Foran would surely be tempted by any opportunity to bring the Englishman back to Caledonian Stadium.

Scoring goals is not Inverness’ problem – in spite of their lowly position they have the best strike rate outwith the current top-four. The goals appear to have dried up for Lonsana Doumbouya in recent weeks though, and the chance to sign a proven goalscorer that could be the difference in some of the tense matches that are sure to lie ahead is likely to appeal.

Should the opportunity to sign Storey arise, it could come down to a matter of whether Foran feels the rest of his budget would be better allocated to signing a defender, unless he is prepared to sanction departures, which he would probably be reluctant to do given how stretched the squad was in the run-up to the festive period.

There could be some big decisions ahead for Foran but rest assured the capture of Ebbe will not signal the end of his transfer activity.