Russell Martin remains confident in being able to build a squad that can achieve his aims for the 2020/21 season, despite the recent departures from Stadium MK.
The Dons have seen Alex Gilbey and Rhys Healey exit for Charlton Athletic and Toulouse respectively and while fully acknowledging that both players will be a loss to his side, Martin is undeterred in his belief that MK Dons will be competitive this term.
“I understand the disappointment,” he said in an interview with iFollow MK Dons following Healey’s departure on Thursday. “I get the frustration and the disappointment that supporters will have - I’m disappointed myself in losing a good player.
“That said, we are stronger than just one player. It’s about everyone and the structure of the team. Each player making each other better and us, as coaches, making them better too. Ultimately it will be the strength of the team that brings success.
“We’re trying to build something here and if we have players interested in our players and I think that indicates we’re doing something right, in the environment we’re creating.
“We do need to find the next ones who have the potential to do what Alex and Rhys did. The most important thing is not about how much we got but what we do with it. We now need to utilise that money and there’s plans already in place for that.
“If we can do what we want to with it, then I’m sure fans will see new players coming in the building who will strengthen and improve us, and will excite the fans just as Rhys did.
“We’ll need to be patient. We could have had 10 new players if we wanted but they wouldn’t have been the right ones. We’ll only do business if it’s really right for us and if the player will improve on what we’ve got.
“It might mean we won’t be fully ready for day one but if it takes time to get the right players in then, so be it. We’ll do that.
“Good players take time to sign. A lot of them are with clubs, which makes it take a little longer but I’m confident we can get the players that we want.”
Martin also reserved a message for the supporters, calling on them to display the faith they showed in him when he took over the reins as manager last November.
“I’d ask them to show the same amount of faith they showed in us last season. We started a long way away last season and they stuck with us and we’ll need that connection again.
“We’ll be working as hard as we possibly can for them and if they continue to show that faith, we’ll do everything we can to repay them for that.”
