Paul Tisdale was delighted to get the signing of Rhys Healey over the line last week - a signature he’s been chasing since December last year.
Healey impressed while on loan at Stadium MK during the first half of the 2018/19 season, scoring nine goals in 21 appearances for the Dons, but he returned to Cardiff City in January and spent the final months of the campaign in the Premier League.
“We were trying in December, we tried in the window in January so we’ve been waiting since then until this summer window,” Tisdale said in his recent pre-season press conference when asked about the chase for Healey.
“We’ve had four to five weeks of talking to Cardiff this summer and the deal’s been done. Thank you to Cardiff and to Neil Warnock for being reasonable and respectful of Peter [Winkelman] and MK Dons.
“We’ve now got a player who is hugely motivated.”
Healey’s arrival takes the total number of summer signings to seven and boss Tisdale believes the window’s work has put the Dons in a strong position heading into the new season.
“In terms of how we see it at the moment, we feel pretty complete in terms of the balance of our squad, how motivated everyone is and being ready for purpose,” he said.
“I suppose you never really know until the season has started and you can see how we play and what problems we have but, as it stands at the moment, we’re not out there desperate to sign another player.
"The balance is good. We’ve got most corners of the team filled and there is competition for places.
“You never know what’s around the corner. Something might pop up and our recruitment department is always on its toes but, we’ve not held a lot of money back. I’m not just going to spend the money for the sake of it, either.”
While seven new faces have arrived at Stadium MK this summer, none have departed other than the players released at the end of last season and striker Chuks Aneke, who opted against signing new terms with the Dons.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been minor interest in Tisdale’s under-contract players.
“I’m pretty sure there has been [interest] but nothing that’s been tangible - we haven’t had to fight anybody off” he commented.
“There are some players in our squad who are going to develop really quickly so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was going to be interest but fortunately I’m keeping the team together at the moment. I certainly don’t intend to lose anybody.”
