HARTLEPOOL United remain hopeful of making further additions to their squad after completing the signing of left-back Brody Paterson. 

The 21-year-old has joined the club as a free agent after being released by Celtic in the summer and has penned a permanent deal. 

The club are continuing to push deals through ahead of the pre-season schedule and it’s understood that there is confidence that a number of further additions will be made this week.

Manager Paul Hartley recently addressed the departures and revealed that they were confident of adding to their squad over the weekend with Paterson's arrival announced on Monday evening.

Paterson said: "As soon as I heard about the opportunity, it was a no brainer. I am excited to work with the Gaffer and play in front of these incredible fans. I have been into training and all the lads a great. You can tell everyone is excited for the new season ahead."

The club finds itself in with considerable gaps to fill in their squad after Timi Odusina, Omar Bogle and Neill Byrne all left the club on a permanent basis to secure moves to fellow League Two sides Bradford City, Newport County and Tranmere Rovers last week respectively. Meanwhile, Luke Molyneux and Gary Liddle have also left the club in the summer.

They made the decision to cancel tonight’s friendly fixture with Scottish side St Mirren to concentrate on matters at the club’s Maiden Castle training ground.

Hartley has moved to bring five other new players into his squad for next season with Kyle Letheren, Euan Murray, Alex Lacey, Mohammed Niang and Jake Hastie all making the move to the north-east from Soctland.

He said: “The Chairman (Raj Singh) has given me great backing and he will continue to do that. He knows what type of player we are looking for and it’s not easy to get a player over the line.

“I can assure everyone that we are working so hard to get the right type of player in and the right type of character. We know the areas that we need to fill and we are short on the front line so we are working extremely hard to bring the right type of player in.”

Pools have submitted enquiries for Leeds United midfielder Stuart McKinstry and Rangers winger Josh McPake but will have to wait on those deals due to their own situations at their respective clubs. McKinstry and Leeds are at an impasse with contractual issues while Rangers are currently running the rule over McPake during pre-season. Pools may well switch their attentions elsewhere in order to make immediate signings ahead of the new season.