Agree entirely with your first paragraph. However, many of us tend to know more about the older players as they have kept turning up to good effect against Thistle over the years! Michael Gardyne would be an obvious example. Must be ancient. Would have been a great signing 5 years ago, but not now.
What we should hope for are a couple of well-known and proven players, plus a number of younger guys whom we have never heard of, but are bubbling under the surface and ready for a breakthrough season. The Stevie Lawless of 6 years ago, hovering on the fringes at Motherwell and completely unknown to me, is the sort of player that springs to mind. It must require a fair amount of insider knowledge and good scouting and contacts to unearth players like that.
A player I have mentioned before who may still be relatively young and hungry and with something to prove is Sam Stanton. The shining light in the poor Hibs team that slid into relegation, I thought that he would walk the Championship the next season, but for whatever reason he dipped and has since then flitted from team to team without settling. I saw that he had turned up at Tannadice last season, but do not know if he has now been freed. Unless injury has taken its toll or his early talent has evaporated or he has attitude problems, could be the kind of player we need. Incisive attacker and could both score and create goals.