Dundee United boss Mixu Paatelainen has revealed he is “drowning” in signing suggestions.
The former Finland national coach is the man to which the Tangerines have turned to get them off the bottom of the Premiership table.
To achieve that challenging task he has already concluded that he will have to bring in new faces.
One of them will not be ex-Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell, with the Tannadice head coach dismissing a report linking him to his fellow Finn.
He even jokily suggested that a certain Real Madrid and Wales superstar Gareth Bale could be joining United.
However, Paatelainen is not short of options.
Asked if there was anything in the Forssell speculation, he replied: “Nothing is happening, so that’s total news to me.
“It’s just hocus-pocus.
“There are plenty of rumours out in the air and maybe Gareth Bale is next, I don’t know.”
He added: “I am looking at players, however.
“I am actually drowning in emails, text messages and everything else.
“There have been loads of suggestions put to me as regards new players, which is great.
“There is a possibility of strengthening the squad, which is also great, and if we can find a player then we will consider making a move.
“We must be careful who we bring in but bringing in a player to shake things up may help the squad.”
Paatelainen will take his team to Celtic Park on Sunday and he admitted that, so early on in his tenure, it would not have been his fixture of choice.
That is because he is realistic enough to know that the emphasis for United against the Hoops will be on defence rather than attack.
“When we go to Celtic Park we will need to be organised but that does not mean we will go there and park the bus,” said Paatelainen.
“I know, though, that at some stage Celtic will come at us in numbers and is when we must be organised.
“We don’t want to be open, that’s for sure, because they will punish you if you are.
“It is a pity that we face Celtic in my second game because I would have liked to have installed our attacking game into the team.
“Against Celtic you must be careful about how many players you commit to the forward areas.
“Of course, we have a clear idea about how we can attack them and hopefully we will have chances to get a good result.
“We need to be patient about it because we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot in what is a difficult match.
“We will be looking to pass the ball well and exploit opportunities but we also have to be organised at the back.”
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