Linfield’s Darragh McBrien in action against Steven Scott of Dungannon at Stangmore Park
Linfield manager David Healy says any further additions to his squad in the current transfer window are unlikely as the club are “at the peak of where we are budget wise”.
The Blues have recruited Daniel Finlayson on a permanent deal, plus Jack Scott, Darragh McBrien, Matthew Fitzpatrick and John Robertson.
They are aiming to regain the league title they lost to Larne last season.
“It’s up to me to go and work with what we have,” said Healy.
“If you ask any of the managers we are always actively looking.
“This is the squad that we have and I’m more than grateful to the people we have at the club and thankful for the support that I’ve got from them in the off-season.
“I spoke with the club during the week and where we are at the moment, we are at the peak of where we are budget wise, so the likelihood at the minute is we won’t be bringing anyone else in,” added the Linfield boss.
The south Belfast club won four successive titles before having to settle for second place behind Larne last term and while there have been several arrivals, there have also been notable summer departures in the form of Jimmy Callacher, Niall Quinn, Sam Roscoe, Cameron Palmer and Eetu Vertainen.
“We’ve changed a lot of players, we’ve lost a lot of experience out of the squad, but we’ve tried to bring in younger and fresher players, who are hopefully hungry for success,” explained Healy.
“That’s why players go to top clubs, they want to be successful, they want to be challenging, and hopefully at the end of the day winning trophies.”
Highlights: Linfield hold off Dungannon Swift to secure Stangmore spoils
‘We need to play better’
Linfield’s delayed start to their Premiership campaign saw them take a hard-fought 3-2 win over Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park, despite having Finlayson sent-off late on for a second bookable offence.
Chris McKee opened the scoring, only for Kealan Dillon to equalise with a stunner, Joel Cooper restored the Blues’ advantage, and then Kirk Millar made it 3-1. Ben Gallagher made it a nervy finish by netting Swifts’ second.
“We knew that Dungannon would have picked up huge confidence in the way they fought back on Monday [coming from 4-1 down to score three late goals and draw 4-4 at champions Larne],” reflected Healy.
“We also knew that in Rodney [McAree]’s first game at home since he took charge again it was going to be tough so I’m delighted to leave here winning a game, as we always are.
“To see them get their second goal [to bring it to 3-2] was worrying, it was disappointing, but we managed to see the game out.
“I would hope that we will play better. We need to play better going forward but we’re up and running with three points.”
Linfield’s next league game is at home to Glenavon on Tuesday.