WE completed a deal to sign defender Frederic Frans this week and I am confident he will prove to be a really good addition for us.

He came over and trained with us for a few days and he has fitted in really well with the squad, which is always the case here.

He is a good professional - he has played at a decent level in Belgium and for their international teams at youth levels - so we are delighted to bring him to the club.

The transfer window shut a few weeks ago but you are always looking and you are always being offered players that are available.

The chance to have a look at Freddy came up and it is one we took. You never know what is out there: you might come up with a wee gem.

We are happy to get him in and I am sure he will do really well for us. It is another player in to give us extra competition for places and Freddy gives us another option at the back.

He is an out-and-out centre-half, strong, good in the air and really solid.

He is someone who knows the game and knows how to defend and I think it is a really good bit of business by the club.

We have agreed a deal until January and that gives us a chance to have an extended look at Freddy, and a chance for him to play and hopefully do well.

We will see how he does over the next few weeks and hopefully he will be in the squad for the game with Dundee United on Saturday.

The other defender we have that the Thistle fans might not have seen yet is Ben Richards-Everton.

We signed Ben in the summer and then let him join Airdrie on loan, and we are pleased with how he is doing there.

He has settled in well, he is enjoying his football at Airdrie and he still trains with us as well so we can see how he is progressing.

We will see what happens over the next few weeks and decide what is best for him for the second half of the season, whether he comes back to us or he stays with Airdrie or goes out on loan again.

The good thing for Ben just now is that he is playing competitive first-team football and getting used to the Scottish game and we are pleased with how he is doing.

We return to Premiership action on Saturday at Tannadice and while it is a really tough place to go, we head there on the back of a good win over Motherwell and confident we can get a positive result.

We know what to expect from a good United side and we will have to be in top form to come away with something.

They will certainly be up there come the end of the season - Jackie McNamara has got a good squad of players there.

But hopefully we can go and cause them a few problems as we look to build on that win over Motherwell and pick up where we left off.