Ryan braced for battle to sign new players - The Worcester Observer

Ryan braced for battle to sign new players

Worcester Editorial 14th Jan, 2015 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan admitted he was expecting a difficult couple of months to convince his main transfer targets to join Worcester Warriors in the summer.

Work is currently underway at Sixways to assemble Worcester’s playing squad for next season, with Ryan eyeing a number of new recruits.

The Warriors boss insisted he was in “pretty good shape” persuading players at the club whose deals run out at the end of the campaign to extend their stay.

However, Ryan said he was anticipating a tough time in the transfer market as he bids to strengthen his squad ahead of what could be a campaign in the Aviva Premiership.




“This is the heat of the moment for us in terms of when we are able to speak to people,” Ryan said.

“But that makes it a difficult time because everybody is able to talk to everybody and we are selling something which we are not quite sure what it is at the end.


“I won’t hide from the fact it is tough, but I also won’t hide from the fact that we have been pretty successful internally making sure that the people we want are travelling with us.

“We are not going to get everyone we want, but as long as we get the majority we will keep moving the club in the right direction, so this is a big couple of months for us.”

Ryan said he was also looking to sign two or three players who have the same characteristics of GJ Van Velze as he believes his captain has been an influential figure since joining from Northampton Saints last summer.

“We don’t want to encourage people to come here by paying them too much money,” he added.

“But as soon as you say that you are struggling in the market and you have got to really engage with the right people who realise and understand what we are doing here.

“Van Velze is an absolute sensation for this club. He is exactly the type of individual who came here to try and help build this club up.

“There aren’t going to be a lot of those guys out there, but we are working really hard to make sure we find a couple more of them.”

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