Dundee have completed the signing of former Dunfermline forward Faissal El Bakhtaoui on a three-year deal.

After the loss of Kane Hemmings, the seemingly inevitable departure of Greg Stewart and a dismal defeat at Peterhead which eliminated them from the Betfred Cup, the Dens Park faithful have been searching for the silver lining to what had been a desperately cloudy summer. That may now have arrived with the arrival of the prolific 23-year-old.

El Bakhtaoui scored 30 goals last season as the Pars romped to the League One title, claiming the division’s PFA Scotland player of the year award along the way, and his arrival is sure to quell some of the anxiety raised by the departure of last season’s 25-goal hero Hemmings.

That positive development has been tempered somewhat though by the news that there is still no end in sight to the injury hell of their captain James McPake.

The defender suffered a fractured kneecap in January’s Dundee derby, and as he faced the media ahead of this weekend’s Premiership curtain-raiser against Ross County, he admitted that a long road still lies ahead of him before he can pull on the dark blue in competitive action again.

He has targeted the festive season as a reasonable timeframe for full recovery, but his response was stark when pressed on whether that was a realistic proposition.

“The honest answer is that I don’t know at the minute,” he said. “I’ll have my latest scan on Friday and then I’ll see the specialist again next week for a more up-to-date report. Then I’ll know what the next step is.

“I’ve had a long time now to get my head round about it and it’s probably only now that I’m realising just how serious it was.

“I thought that I’d had bad injuries in the past and nothing came close to this. With my back operations, I could have had both of them done at the same time and done the rehab in the time it’s taken this to get right.

“I’m still wearing a brace, although that’s more of a protective measure until the surgeon gives me the go-ahead to take it off and get cracking again – which, I hope, will be next week.

“But I’m not worried. I’ve seen three different surgeons on different occasions and they’ve all had the same opinion – that it’s going to take time.

“They haven’t been able to give me a definite answer as to when that will be but they’re all convinced that it will get better and that I’ll return to playing again.

“It’s the way I’ve always looked at it and I’ll keep going until someone tells me otherwise. If my knee tells me that then so be it.

“The club have given me their full backing and the manager has been great. I want to play a big part in this season and be ready to go round about Christmas time. That’s the aim but if we’re two weeks early or a couple of weeks late it’s not going to make a huge difference as long as I’m progressing and doing well I’ll be happy.

“And whenever I do get back that’ll be when it will be.”

One thing McPake has certainly not been short of is support from his own family, and from the wider footballing fraternity. Say what you will about modern players, but there is no doubt they rally around their fellow professionals when an injury as serious as the one that befell McPake occurs.

One of the first people to reach out to McPake was friend and former Livingston teammate Robert Snodgrass, a man who knows a thing or two about what can often be a lonely road to rehabilitation from a long-term layoff.

The continued advice from the Hull City and Scotland star has proven an invaluable source of comfort for McPake on his own long journey back towards fitness.

“We’re seeing the same surgeon and Robert’s has been great," he said. "I can pick up the phone or text him and ask him what he was doing now.

“He was out for 18-months before he was back playing and is now as good as he’s ever been. He’s always at the end of a phone. I was speaking to him the other day on how he dealt with something. It wasn’t the same injury but it’s good to have someone you can speak to.

“It’s your livelihood but I’ve never got away from that fact whether I was playing or not and when you’re injured you’ve got to be as positive as you can.

“Probably my previous injuries have helped me deal with it. I’ve got plenty of people I can go and speak to that have been through this.

“It’s probably been harder to deal with it mentally than it has been physically. But there are a lot of people who are far worse off than me and, when I get down, that’s what my wife will say to me.

“Our two kids help with that as well but there are plenty of people with their own illnesses and injuries and hardships so I don’t let myself dwell on my problem.

“This is part and parcel of the game and I think I’m dealing with it okay.”