AYR United gaffer Mark Kerr says the fans should be excited by new signing Dario Zanatta.

The Canadian has joined the Honest Men on a one-year deal after leaving Partick Thistle last month.

Kerr made two new additions to his squad last week with the former Hearts man, 23, and ex-Middlesbrough kid Patrick Reading joining the South Ayrshire club.

Fans’ favourites Michael Moffat, Steven Bell, Andy Murdoch and Aaron Muirhead have all also re-signed ahead of the 20/21 season which will get underway on October 17.

Kerr has a big rebuilding job on his hands after losing the likes of Alan Forrest, Ross Doohan, Ross Docherty and Stephen Kelly.

But the ex-Falkirk star insists he has plans in place to prepare the Honest Men for another good season.

He said: “We have been working hard trying to get things done.

“The players we’ve lost was always going to happen.

“It’s going to be a shorter season so we needed some sort of continuity to keep the standards we have as a team.

“Dario’s been a player that I’ve liked for a couple of years now. He moved over from Canada to Hearts and he played a number of games there.

“He’s went out on a couple of loans before signing a permanent deal at Partick.

“He didn’t want to be playing in League One, so I had a chat with him and we struck a deal.

“Dario is an exciting player. After losing Alan, I know Dario can get at defenders. He’s very direct, he’s skilful and I think he will bring a lot to the team.

“He’s positive about his career and he wants to go and make his mark at the top end of the league, which hopefully he can do.

“He’s a player that can get us goals out of nothing and I believe that’s important in this league.

“Patrick is a kind of similar mould to Michael Rose when we joined a few years ago. We want to develop him.

“He played at Middlesbrough and with Scotland U21s. I spoke to Scot Gemmill about him so Patrick is a player who was highlighted to me.”