Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass has refused to rule out raiding the free agent market to sign a striker.
The Dons tried to secure a centre-forward in the January transfer window, but couldn’t push a deal through.
Although the window has closed, there remains the possibility of signing a striker not contracted to any club.
Glass reckons there are ‘”quality free agents out there”.
However, he urged caution saying a free agent move may not happen and he doesn’t want to get supporters’ hopes up.
He said: “I am sure there are quality free agents out there, but I am not going to stand here and say let’s get it done.
“Without leading people on, we would like to add a centre forward, of course.
“That is not to lead people on, that it is definitely going to happen.
“I don’t want to get people’s hopes up. ”
No gambles with late striker signing
Leading scorer Christian Ramirez is the only fit out-and-out senior striker at Pittodrie.
Attacker Marley Watkins is currently out injured for the next four to five weeks.
Glass accepts Ramirez needs help in attack, but wanted to sign quality in January and refused to move for a striker unlikely to deliver goals.
He insists Aberdeen have had their ‘fingers burnt’ before by adding strikers late in a transfer window that failed to deliver goals.
In the January 2021 window, the Dons signed three strikers on loan in a frantic transfer deadline day.
Florian Kamberi (St Gallen), Fraser Hornby (Stade de Reims) and Callum Hendry (St Johnstone) all arrived at the eleventh hour.
They only scored five goals between them in 39 combined appearances.
Glass said: “We were in there (working) until 11.30pm on Monday (transfer deadline) night.
“We were going to stay until midnight, but things weren’t moving.
“We wanted to add quality and recognise we need a little bit of help for Christian at the top end, which we couldn’t add.
“Our fingers have been burnt here before adding people late in the window where there is not a lot of goals coming out of them.
“Adding things that are not going to solve problems is not the answer.
“We have a good group of players that can fix what we need.
“Marley will come back in four or five weeks and we will be really up and firing.
“We have a group of players that are capable of winning games before that.
“There is no point adding players you are not sure are going to help you.”
Young talent signed in January
Aberdeen exited the January transfer window with three signings.
Winger Vicente Besuijen joined on a four-and-a-half-year deal from Dutch second tier side ADO Den Haag.
The 20-year-old made a promising debut in the 1-1 draw with Ross County.
Teenage left-back Adam Montgomery was secured on loan from Celtic on transfer deadline day until the end of the season.
Scotland U21 international Montgomery, 19, was an unused substitute at Ross County.
Midfielder Dante Polvara, 21, also arrived from the United States on a two-and-a-half-year deal from Georgetown University.
Polvara is currently sidelined.
Meanwhile, the major exit was Welsh international Ryan Hedges, who transferred to Championship Blackburn Rovers for £200,000.
More to come from Calvin Ramsay
However, the Reds held firm against intense interest from clubs across Europe to retain teenage right-back Calvin Ramsay.
A bid of £4.8m from Italian Serie A Bologna was rejected.
English top-flight clubs including Leeds United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle United were interested in Ramsay.
Glass believes Ramsay handled well talk of huge European clubs and life-changing money.
Now the window has closed, Glass anticipates Ramsay to better the form that made him such hot property across Europe.
Glass said: “Any sort of uncertainty has gone.
“Calvin knows he is here until the summer.
“I have talked about it quite a bit.
“He is an 18-year-old kid who has had that level of talk, money and life-changing things thrown at him.
“I thought he handled it well during the window.
“It could have been better, but he is 18 and it is expected.
“On Tuesday at Ross County, he showed more of what we expect from him, but I still think there is more to come.”
Same story… lack of cutting edge
Glass admits the lack of cutting edge in the attacking third cost Aberdeen three points at Ross County.
Having led 1-0 through a Jonny Hayes goal, they conceded soon after to draw 1-1.
He said: “It was better than last week’s performance at St Mirren (1-0 loss).
“There were still similar failings in the final third as we didn’t do enough with the opportunities we made.
“The final pass, things like that.
“It is the same story every week recently.
“Overall the performance was a lot better and some good individual showings within it, which was an improvement.”