Christmas came in July for Highlands Park coach Allan Freese when on Monday he received 90 percent of the players that were on his wish-list of new recruits ahead of the club’s debut season in the Absa Premiership.The coach of the newly-promoted side wore a satisfied grin after 12 players were revealed by the club.“I’m quite happy with the signings. The signings were made because of what the team required‚ the positions we thought we needed to strengthen‚” Freese said on Monday ahead of the team’s first training session in preparation for the new season.“I think we signed in the right positions. We are hoping that we can get together and gel as quickly as possible.”With the dozen signings now sealed‚ the coach believes his next main objective is to bring stability to the team.Freese believes that getting the side to gel will be his main focus before the team takes to the field for the first time in top-flight football.“My first priority as coach is to stabilise the team‚” the coach said.“It is not going to be easy‚ especially getting 12 new players into the team‚ trying to integrate them with the others we had from last season.”Freese confirmed that he does not expect to add further signings to his side in the current transfer window.The coach is pleased with the balance between youth and experience that he has in his squad of 30 at the moment.He is also confident that there is ample time to get his charges to gel before they take to the field in September.“Last season (in the National First Division) was different in that we had five under-23s to start with. Those rules have changed now‚ although we do have under-23 players within the squad. We do have a mixture of experience now – senior and junior players. I just hope they can gel as quickly as possible‚” said Freese.“Fortunately for us‚ yes we have enough time. Seeing that we have a two-week gap after everybody else (in the PSL) has started.“I’m happy [with the squad]. Just now we have too many players and everybody starts getting confused.”With the trend in the PSL being that rookies in the league are often the first to fight relegation at the end of the season‚ Freese is determined to avoid the relegation battle at the end of the 2016/17 campaign.“No‚ no‚ no! We would not like to fight relegation‚” the coach stressed.“I would like us to finish as high as possible. Let’s see where we end.”Last season in the NFD‚ Highlands Park had one of the most superior defensive statistics‚ which the club is keen on maintaining.However‚ with the addition of strikers Collins Mbesuma and Charlton Mashumba‚ the club has made their intention of banging in the goals quite clear.“We hope we can still stay solid at the back. We hope we can still maintain that‚” Freese said.“Last season we saw that we did not score enough goals… Up front we did need to strengthen and bring in guys that can score goals.”The new Highlands Park signings are: Collins Mbesuma‚ Eddie Ngalo‚ Thanduyise Khuboni (all from Mpumalanga Black Aces)‚ Edwin Sitayitayi (Moroka Swallows)‚ Seun Ledwaba (Mamelodi Sundowns/ Royal Eagles)‚ Agustine Mbara (Dynamo‚ Zimbabwe)‚ Charlton Mashumba (Jomo Cosmos)‚ Brandon Theron (Milano FC)‚ Khethukuthula Zwane‚ Junior Sibande (both AmaTuks)‚ JP van der Merwe (Wits) and Lebogang Ditsele (Township Rollers‚ Botswana) - TMG Digital ..