How Johnnie Jackson can fix AFC Wimbledon issue with deal for Josh Ruffels | OneFootball

AFC Wimbledon seem to have a squad imbalance, and Josh Ruffels could help solve that

Johnnie Jackson has performed wonders throughout the transfer window so far by bolstering AFC Wimbledon's fantastic promotion-winning squad with a great balance of untapped potential and League One experience.

However, focusing in on the squad, while there is quality in areas all over the pitch, the wing-backs have been left a little light so far, and in particular the left-hand side feels a little light on quality in depth.

Therefore, Jackson and his transfer window guru, Director of Football Craig Cope, still have some more searching to do, and a player that could help them out at this stage in the window is Josh Ruffels.

AFC Wimbledon's left-sided weakness could be their downfall

The Dons had such an impregnable defence last season, and utilised that to help fuel their promotion bid through the play-offs, keeping clean sheets across all three play-off games.

And while that was in part down to the fact the trio of Joe Lewis, Ryan Johnson and one of Riley Harbottle or Isaac Ogundere were just so dominant in how they defended, the system would not have worked without the workrate of James Tilley and Josh Neufville in the wing-back positions.

Especially down the left, a spot often targeted due to Johnson's lack of pace compared to Lewis in the middle of the three, both Tilley and Neufville provided the speed to help cover quickly defensively.

However, both have since left the club and, during this summer window, Jackson has brought in Steve Seddon permanently, for his third spell at the club, and Nathan Asiimwe on loan from Charlton Athletic following a strong season on-loan at Walsall last year. And while both are performing well, there are concerns starting to rise. Chief among those are worries over the player's fitness.

While the right-hand side does have the likes of Isaac Ogundere and Aron Sasu who can both cover and deputise there, the left-hand side only has the aforementioned Sasu, who is naturally left-footed but has crafted his game on cutting in from the right wing, meaning there is a real imbalance.

While the season is still young, there will come a point later in the campaign where the games come thick and fast, and with that, unless Seddon is part-superhuman, he will suffer with fitness troubles due to being overplayed.

Signing Josh Ruffels will stop AFC Wimbledon's left-sided troubles - Jackson must act fast

To stop those fitness issues ever becoming a worry, however, Jackson should look to dip into the free agent market once again to pick up a quality option that would provide not only experience, but strong depth too in the form of former Oxford United and Huddersfield Town left-back Josh Ruffels.

The Oxford-born defender is one of the names that has been training with the PFA, and Jackson has shown he is willing to look into that pool of players with the very recent pick-up of Patrick Bauer on a one-year deal.

Having amassed north of 300 career appearances, all in the EFL, including 201 in League One, there is no doubting that he would be a big coup for the Dons. However, having only been used sparingly at the Terriers, who he left this summer after four years, there are question marks over whether he would settle for being a rotational option at a level he is extremely well-experienced at.

He would offer a similar type of profile to Seddon for this level, having shown that at Oxford United, with multiple seasons of tallying good numbers of goals and assists in League One, but the question is, can the Dons afford a deal for him?

Having signed the likes of Marcus Browne and the aforementioned Bauer this summer, two names that only a few years ago were great-quality Championship players, the club now have a precedent for handing out deals to those that are likely to be more expensive options, and so a deal for Ruffels not only makes sense with the amount of quality he would bring, but equally for how much balance he could bring to the team.

There are other options if Jackson misses out on the quality that Ruffels brings, as could happen with demand likely to be high for a player who has spent a good chunk of the last four years playing in the Championship, with the main one of those being the loan signing of Jacob Mendy from Wrexham.

Not looking like he'll be in the plans this season with only an appearance as an unused sub against West Bromwich Albion over the weekend, the Gambian international was not favoured too often at League One level by the Red Dragons, and now with a step-up to the league above, is likely to be on the list of players needing to head out the exit door at the Racecourse Ground.

And that is where the Dons could strike a deal similar to Alistair Smith last season. Take a player who is nowhere near the first-team plans at their current club, take them on loan for the year and get them to perform to the levels they have previously shown and sign them upon expiry of their contract, which Transfermarkt estimates is next summer for Mendy.

Whatever choice is made by Jackson as to who he should look into signing is still unclear at this stage, even with the end of the window drawing in. Action is needed pretty fast.

What is clear is that attention is needed in the wing-back department, to make sure the current first choices are not overplayed and worn-out, and so the depth behind them is of good enough quality to help Wimbledon compete at this level and defy the expectations of many this season.