Ebbsfleet boss Danny Searle won’t rush Rakish Bingham - even if it means the striker misses the start of the season.

Bingham will miss a large chunk of pre-season after picking up an injury in the Fleet’s opening friendly at Punjab United last week.

The 30-year-old forward could yet declare himself fit for the National League opener at Gateshead on August 10 but Searle is not going to force the issue.

“There’s no need to rush anything,” said Searle. “It’s not good but it’s not as bad as I thought it was. I’m still really not happy about it (the challenge) and I need to stop watching it back as it makes me a little bit more angry. He’s going to miss a little bit of time.

“We don’t know yet [about August 10]. He’s going to miss a chunk. If he does what he can do, we could see him. I am going to err on the side of caution and say probably not.

“We need to look after him properly. It’s not like last season when we had the situation with Dom Samuel and we needed him back quick as we were fighting for our lives.

“We’ve got a whole marathon ahead of us so at the risk of putting someone in danger, for the sake of 30 or 60 minutes of football at the start of the season, there’s no point.”

Searle confirmed he would still like to bring another striking option to the club, regardless of the severity of Bingham’s injury.

He’s keen on adding more competition with Bingham competing alongside fellow forwards Dominic Samuel, Dominic Poleon and Nathan Odokonyero.

“I’ve made it quite clear that we’d probably like to do another forward anyway,” stated Searle. “I like competition, we’ve got good competition in a lot of places.

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“Has it accelerated it a bit? Yes, we know they need to be in before the start of the season. We’re not in a rush, we’ll take our time and make sure they fit what we’re trying to do.”

A centre-forward has been on trial with the Fleet and has scored twice in as many games, against Punjab and also in a 5-1 win at Cray Valley on Tuesday night.

Searle has reiterated he’s in no rush to make a call on the various trialists, but admits potential timeframes will vary for each player.

“It will be on an individual basis,” confirmed Searle. “There’s some when agents might be on the phone tomorrow saying you’ve had him in for two games now, what do you think? And there might be lads who want to keep proving themselves.

“There were some indications on Tuesday of what we would like to see and a few bits where it wasn’t quite as good as I think it should be.

“I’m not going to kill them, they’re on trial and I think managers, coaches, fans and media forget that sometimes. These lads are trying to earn a living and that’s pressure, a different pressure to the lads that already have contracts.

“Training is a massive part of what our recruitment is about, how you are around the sessions, how you are with the staff, are you the type of person we want? Basically, I’m going to spend more time with you than my family.”

Franklin Domi (knee) is expected to feature in Ebbsfleet’s friendly at home to West Ham’s development squad tomorrow (Saturday) although summer signing Jephte Tanga may not be risked.

Ebbsfleet continue their pre-season preparations at Tonbridge on Tuesday (7.45pm).