KEITH Curle wants his Latics to be able to mix it up in League Two next season.

Fresh from signing a two-year deal to extend his Boundary Park stay Curle is working to piece together a squad capable of being at the right end of the division next season.

The former Northampton and Carlisle boss inherited a squad that was free-scoring but also leaked an alarming number of goals at the other end as they finished 18th in the fourth tier after another disappointing campaign.

And as he looks to add to his 11 contracted players in the coming weeks, Curle is keen to see more resolve in his ranks while not taking away from his side’s attacking instincts.

“I want to bring in players that can play entertaining, free-flowing attacking football that have got a great determination,” he said.

“Very quickly we need to get an identity of what we’re about and that’s vitally important.

“When it’s on to play I want us to play, when we have to go toe-to-toe I want people that step up to the mark and that battle for the shirt.”

Curle knows all about getting out of the division having guided Northampton to play-off success at the end of the Covid-impacted 2019-20 season.

His Cobblers side had a reputation for being direct, but the Oldham boss insists it is simply a case of sides playing to their strengths in order to get results.

“League Two is a hard division to get out of,” Curle said.

“I was lucky that I did it and a lot of people will say we were relentless in the way that we played.

“We got the ball forward, we got after it, we got numbers in the box and we repeatedly put the ball in the box and asked questions.

“Probably at times when we could play we didn’t have enough quality in the squad but we knew what we were good at.”

Former Port Vale midfielder Luke Joyce is one player on Curle’s radar, the pair having worked together at Carlisle, as the Latics boss looks to add some more experience and knowhow to his squad.

Top scorer Conor McAleny’s future remains up in the air but the out of contract striker is not expected to be short of options after his 21 goals in all competitions last season.