David Bates could make Aberdeen debut against Motherwell

Stephen Glass has revealed that David Bates will be playing first-team football as soon as possible, and that he could even make his debut against Motherwell on Saturday.

Former Rangers defender Bates completed a transfer from Hamburg to Pittodrie at the end of the transfer window, but has been short of action recently.

Glass said that the player had been training well and was ready to play soon, but that a call would be made on whether he would see Premiership action this weekend.

“David has trained with the group and he’s ready to go,” the Aberdeen manager said. “Obviously he’s not played as much football as he would have liked recently or we potentially wouldn’t have been able to get him to be fair.

“It’s a case of getting him up to speed as quickly as we can and as soon as we can get him into the group that’s out there on the pitch he’ll be there. It might come as soon as Saturday, we’ll see.”

Bates is one of a number of new faces in Glass’ squad, with Matty Longstaff and Marley Watkins also arriving late in the window. But the club also saw the window close without losing any players.

Glass said that he hadn’t expected any of his stars to depart before the deadline and was of the firm belief that the team was far stronger than it was at the start of the season, though he bemoaned the serious injury that has ruled Andy Considine out until the new year.

“I’m pleased with the group that we’ve got and that we’ve managed to add to it rather than have a potential negative,” he said.

“I think anybody looking at it would be in no doubt this group of players is stronger than before the transfer window, with the obvious exception of big Andy – that’s a long-term thing that you can’t control…

“I think players come to clubs like this because they want to compete to get into the team. If it’s easy to get in the team you’re not competing well, but we’ve got competition right across the board from the goalkeepers to the centre-forwards.

“If you’re not playing well it might be a little while before the opportunity comes again and you can sense it in training.”