Motherwell took their transfer-window arrivals to seven with the loan signing of Blackburn defender Tyler Magloire but manager Graham Alexander feels their best business is keeping hold of their star men.

Motherwell rejected bids for Allan Campbell last month and survived interest in skipper Declan Gallagher, while Scotland full-back Stephen O’Donnell signed a new short-term contract on deadline day.

Magloire, a pacey 22-year-old who was recently on loan at Hartlepool, arrived on Tuesday after experienced Crewe defender Eddie Nolan and Hearts winger Jordan Roberts signed temporary deals on deadline day.

They followed Liam Kelly, Steven Lawless, Harry Smith and Sam Foley in joining Well over the past month but Alexander said: “For me the biggest bonus is we have kept our best players in the building.

“We knew there was a possibility of them leaving. We turned down substantial bids for Allan Campbell in January.

“That was probably 10 days ago and you see in Allan’s performances, nothing has changed. He is an absolute top professional and he has just wanted to win. The same with Dec and the same with Stephen O’Donnell.

“If I thought they were not focused on us and they were looking elsewhere and it was affecting their performance, then we would probably help that happen, because we only want committed players. But all we have seen is every player committed to what we are doing.

“I sat down with Allan when it was happening and had real good conversations. He is a young player but he has real good experience and for me, he represents what we want to be as a club.

“We don’t want to stand in people’s progression and if they can achieve their ambitions of playing at the highest level then that’s great, but our first focus has to be Motherwell.

“The club is the biggest thing and the biggest thing for us is staying in the Premiership this season.

“I explained the club’s stance and Allan’s response has been absolutely top notch. I have no doubt at some point we will lose Allan Campbell and he will play at a very, very high level, but my first focus is doing the best for Motherwell.

“I have not seen one per cent of a drop from him or any other player.”

Alexander also felt Motherwell needed some strengthening as well as added competition for a busy schedule.

“It’s just to make sure when we look at the board we can see at least two players in every position, and we can train properly against good opponents, because it’s important that the standard you train at always transfers into games,” he said ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Dundee United.

“The club over the last six months has had quite a few injuries, and if they occur again, you are short.

“Because of Covid, we haven’t been able to have bounce games so there’s a lot of players who are deconditioned to playing games.

“We managed to have one against Hamilton last Friday and got 90 minutes into some players and a couple who hadn’t played a game since pre-season. You put them into a first-team environment and they are not going to be able to perform.

“So the strength of the squad enables us to have more games in house as well with those young players, and try to maintain everyone’s fitness levels.”

Alexander is looking to build on last week’s comeback against Ross County, Motherwell’s first win in three months.

“You can only win three points in the one game but it has to count for more than that for us in the bigger picture, it has to be taken into a consistent run of results – and that’s what our aim is,” he added.