JOHN Coleman says he wants to sign up to eight players with a striker and a left back his main priority.

But the Stanley boss insists he will not rush in to recruiting and says any player that walks through the door at the Wham Stadium must be right for the club.

The Reds have only made one signing so far with midfielder Joe Pritchard joining from Bolton Wanderers while former Brighton defender Ben Barclay played in Monday night’s 1-0 friendly defeat against Sligo Rovers.

Coleman has already stated that he expects a flurry of signings before the Stanley’s League One campaign kicks off at Lincoln City on August 3 but he is happy to bide his time

“It’s a priority to get players in but it has to be the right players,” he said.

“I could sign 50 players in the next hour but they wouldn’t be the right ones and I have to take my time and do what I always do and try and get the right ones that suit us best.

“We have a couple in training and we have identified a few targets and there are ongoing negotiations with four or five players and four or five clubs.”

Billy Kee and Sean McConville scored the bulk of Stanley’s goals last season and Coleman would like to add more fire power to his forward line - although Paul Smyth and Luke Armstrong did impress last term.

And he also wants to strengthen his back line with Stanley often suspect to conceding soft goals when they finished in 14th place last season having pulled away from the relegation zone in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“One of the priorities is a striker and the other is a left back, these are two key areas,” he said.

“We have one or two irons in the fire, who will be exciting for our club.”

Coleman will once again dabble in the loan market but knows he will have to wait for Premier League and Championship clubs to get their business done before deciding which players to move on.

“We have got a good core of players but still need to sign eight players and you can only have around five loan players,” added the Reds boss.

“That’s been at the forefront of my mind for probably the last three or four weeks. It sometimes takes longer than you would like, especially when you are trying to get players from Premier League or Championship clubs, they historically go back later than us and want to keep them around for a couple of weeks.

“It’s a slow process but if you get the right player, it’s worth it in the end.”