Neilson wants 'two or three more' in the transfer window

Having added seven new faces to his squad already, MK Dons manager Robbie Neilson is hoping for two or three more additions before the transfer window closes.
Robbie NeilsonRobbie Neilson
Robbie Neilson

Five of Neilson's seven new recruits were given a run out in the 3-2 defeat to the Bees at Stadium MK - only Peter Pawlett and Wieger Sietsma missed out - but the manager said he still has at least two more deals in the pipeline.

"We want good players and we're aiming for two or three," he said. "I'd like to get that, but who knows towards the end of the window. I don't want to put a time limit on it because you can think these things will happen but then don't.

"Things are always going on in the background, but getting them over the line is the hard part."

In their first game back at Stadium MK since April, Dons gave a good account of themselves against Championship Brentford on Tuesday, but fell to their fourth defeat in a row this pre-season.

After the defeat to Coventry on Friday night, Neilson admitted he wasn't interested in pre-season scorelines, and he reiterated his point on Tuesday, but felt his side were beginning to look a solid unit as new recruits started to gel in with the rest of his team.

He said: "I was really pleased with the performance and standard of play at times. There are a lot of positives to take against a top Championship side. We ran them close. We looked strong, we passed it well, we were aggressive and it was a good performance all round.

"The new lads are starting to get to where we want them to be. With the likes of Ryan Seager and Ethan Ebanks-Landell, fitness wise they still have to get there but there's a lot of improvement to come.

"It's just part of football - there's always a big turnaround of players. At this level, you rarely see three year deals. It's a year here or there, maybe two. We try and make things simple for the players and I think they took it on board tonight.

"For me, it's just about the first game. Not that I don't care about the performance, but I'm making sure we don't get injuries and implement what we're trying to do.

"It's hard when we're bringing in so many new players, and I want another couple to come in, to alter things again. If it was up to me, we'd just start the season straight away."