Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb expects to make a decision on whether to sign a trialist in the next week.

The Fleet boss has only used one trialist in pre-season, a midfielder with National League experience who has certainly caught his eye.

Now Kutrieb has to decide whether to add another midfielder to his ranks or to start the campaign with extra room to manoeuvre further down the line.

If it was down to playing ability alone, Kutrieb would add to his squad. But the Fleet boss is thinking about the bigger picture.

“He’s still with us and I really like him,” he stated. “We have to make a few general decisions if we want to sign another midfielder or not.

“It’s not about him as a player, I would sign him all day long, but we need to make a decision for that position.

“He’s given me some headaches because normally I wouldn’t want to sign another midfielder, but he’s really good and we’re considering what we do.

“We always want to have an open and fair conversation with every player. It’s not like there needs to be a decision tomorrow, but for a player and the club it’s always good to have clarity so we’ll try to have that.

“We don’t have pressure because we don’t need to make a decision but it would be good for everyone if we don’t leave it for three weeks.

“It’s not easy as he’s interesting for me because he fits perfectly in our system. The biggest question is do we want to have another midfielder?”

Kutrieb is content that over the course of a season he can keep his squad happy, even those who are not playing regularly.

But he needs to make sure he has sufficient cover to take care of potential hazards along the way.

“We managed it quite well last season as sometimes we struggled to find a good XI on the pitch,” added Kutrieb. “Come winter time, it’s dark and cold and you get injuries.

“Now it would be a problem as we have far too many good players in the squad so it’s a good problem to have. From that point of view, I’m not afraid to have another midfielder so we need to tell someone why they are not playing or not in the squad.

“It’s more of a general decision, we want to plan for a whole season and we try to find the right answers. The question is what can happen, what’s most likely to happen, where will we pick up injuries and do we have a good back-up?

“It’s not like he’s a good player so we get him, we try to think about the whole season.”

Either way, the Fleet boss is happy to be in a position of strength.

Jack Paxman is his only injury concern at the moment, although it’s too early to rule him out of the season opener against Chippenham on August 6.

“Other clubs still have five or six trialists in our league, they’re trying to find a good squad,” noted Kutrieb. “We have one trialist and that’s because it’s a serious interest where we think he would be a good fit and we have the rest of our squad together.

“We can make sure everyone is on the same page from the first gameday while others are still trying to fill up the squad. I don’t have that problem.

“It’s a good problem to have because I have a good player I can sign and he wants to play for us but I don’t want to push it away.

“With Pax injured it’s another issue and there’s a few things ongoing where I need to make a decision. If we sign another midfielder then it will be him because I really like him.

“It will happen in the next week or so but I can’t see it will take much time. We know about his quality and we need to make a general decision for us.

“Jack is not a red flag at the moment but we need to take it day by day.”