Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin insists the club’s recruitment team are working overtime to see if transfer targets can be secured in January.
The Dons are in the midst of a form collapse and Pittodrie’s hierarchy have backed Thelin to bring in reinforcements this month.
Winger Jeppe Okkels has already been secured on loan from Preston North End.
And the Dons paid £600,000 to Swiss club Grasshoppers to sign centre-back Kristers Tobers on a three-and-a-half-year contract.
Both are in contention to make their Aberdeen debuts in the Premiership clash against Hearts at Pittodrie on Sunday.
Aberdeen have also submitted a bid of £400,000 to Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna for versatile defender Alexander Jensen.
Jensen is in the final year of his contract with the Allsvenskan club, but it is understood IF Brommapojkarna want £800,000.
Thelin said: “When the market is open you have your targets.
“And then it is about if they are available or not.
“That is what we are working on right now, to see what we can do to strengthen the team.
“Adding players if you are missing in some parts of the team,.
“We have targets on what we want.”
Transfer target Alexander Jensen
Transfer target Jensen began his career at Danish second-tier Fredericia.
In 2023 he moved to Swedish club Brommapojkarna where he is a regular first team starter.
Jensen can play right-back, left-back, centre-back and in midfield.
Thelin refused to be drawn on Jensen when asked about the defender.
He said: “I can’t comment on other specific teams’ players.
“I focus on what we are doing here and it’s a lot of work ongoing.”
Thelin keeping his cool during slump
The Dons are suffering the worst run of form of any club in the Premiership.
Thelin insists there is no panic at Pittodrie because he has endured a long winless run before and came out the other side to deliver success.
In the 2019 campaign Thelin suffered a nine game winless run at Elfsborg and the following season led them to a Swedish top-flight runners-up finish.
There was a similar situation in 2023 when Elfsborg went on an 11 game winless run in all competitions, including two in the Uefa Conference League.
The following season he again led them to a runners-up finish.
In both cases the winless slump came during squad rebuilds and the team he moulded would go on to deliver success.
Thelin is confident it will be the same at Aberdeen.
He said: “Those times were when we rebuilt the team, there was a lot of changes.
“We changed a lot of players during that period and it was a new start.
“Also we changed how we trained, how we built a team and how we recruited in 2018, so it was like we changed direction as a club.
“The other year it was a lot of movements around the transfer window.
“A lot of players were on the way out, more or less halfway out the door and we don’t get the players in.
“You get these moments when you’re starting a journey or rebuilding a journey.
“There can be a few bumps in the road.
“But the learning point is that the direction always has to be clear.
“And you cannot get stressed because it’s natural when you’re changing a lot of things that you can get the rhythm sometimes not perfect.
“However, you get stronger and show you can handle the intensity.
“So I’m not stressed right now, I think we should keep the focus,.
“That’s the learning point for these situations.
“If you believe in something, do it with 100% conviction because if you have a clear picture of what’s going to arrive, go for that.”
Formula to end collapse in form
Aberdeen’s crash in form has saw the Dons drop from being level on points with league leaders Celtic to fourth place.
The Reds have failed to register a clean sheet since early October and are struggling to convert scoring chances.
Thelin knows what is needed to fix the winless run when facing Hearts on Sunday.
He said: “It’s really clear what we need to do to be better and find a way to win games again.
“The speed of our game and the direction of our game, sometimes in the last part has been not strong and fast enough.
“We have to be more direction to the opponent’s goal and more players around the box when we arrive.
“We just need to find a way back there and do this hard work to arrive there where we want to be.”
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