Brian Barry-Murphy says new signing Jake Beesley will “benefit the squad hugely”.
The striker has signed a three-year deal at the Crown Oil Arena after joining from Solihull Moors for an undisclosed fee.
The Dale boss is pleased to have completed the deal for someone was a long-term target.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Barry-Murphy.
“He’s someone that we’ve monitored for a long period of time. Because of the make-up of our squad, we couldn’t have brought him in then and he signed for Solihull.
“For him to be available to us after such a short time being at Solihull is great news for us and testament to the work done behind the scenes in monitoring the situation, and David [Bottomley] in making the deal happen.”
Barry-Murphy says the recruitment model, which has seen Dale sign the likes of Beesley and Stephen Humphrys, makes great financial sense as well as allowing him to bring in key players.
“In that position [striker], we mentioned being patient in terms of our recruitment. But, if I’m being honest, Jake and Stephen Humphrys were very much at the top of our tree, so I can’t complain really. I’m delighted to have them both in our squad moving forwards.
“Jake is someone who will excite everybody and is perfect for the make-up of our squad. Previously, we would always have looked at free transfers and players that we could just pay wages too and the overall package was that.
“What we’ve found this summer and something that we’ve been very keen to explore, with the likes of Jake and Stephen, is very much looking at the overall outlay and what the cost to the Club is over the length of their contracts. Even though there is an initial payment in terms of the fee, we have managed to secure them on significantly lower amounts than what those who they are replacing were on.
“That makes great financial sense to the Club and luckily they’ve backed us in that recruitment model. Hopefully, we get the chance to develop what could be very serious assets to the Club moving forwards because of their profile, age and what they will bring to the Club moving forward.
“Previously, if there was a transfer fee involved for a player, we would just move on and say we can’t do it. The guys behind the scenes in terms of the analysis, Callum [Jones – Head Of Performance Analysis] and being aware of what was available and the cost to the Club, once we had a chance of being able to bring Jake in, it was absolutely something that we wanted to do and something that would benefit the squad hugely.
“That age profile that we’re trying to bring to the squad and really enhance the group, he fits every kind of that criteria perfectly for us. A lot of Clubs would have looked at him previously as having the ideal portfolio but be slightly put off by the fact that he came into Salford City and didn’t score loads of goals.
“But we were of the complete opposite and believe his profile, age and skills are perfect for us. We feel he can develop and we make every part of his game better.
“The theory is that we will have a very exciting striker on our hands who has the fundamentals that we would look for in any player anyway, because he’s an amazing guy with an incredible work effort and a will to develop and push himself. He will be hugely popular amongst the players and the supporters when they see him play.”
Watch the boss’ thoughts on his new striker on YouTube HERE.