DUNDEE UNITED manager Peter Houston has revealed he has lined up a defensive option now that the January transfer window has opened.
After watching his side draw 2-2 with Aberdeen at Pittodrie, Houston confirmed that he has fixed up a trialist and could make a signing if cash is available.
“Milos Lacny is away back to his parent club so that should release his salary and I have a defender coming in,” said Houston.
“I won’t say who it is just yet but he is a foreigner, has played a lot of football and has played in the SPL. So we will have a look at him and see if he is up to scratch.
“If I could add him then I would be delighted but I will need to see if we have any money and the chairman (Stephen Thompson) is away on holiday just now.”
Houston will also be having a chat with short-term signing Rudi Skacel, who sat on the bench for the whole of Wednesday’s draw at Pittodrie.
“I will speak to Rudi over the next few days, although his deal runs to the end of January,” added the Tannadice gaffer.
“He was left out for tactical reasons today and nothing more than that. He has done exceptionally well and played a lot of football over a short period of time.”
Houston showed he wasn’t shy of giving youth a chance as he handed a debut to defender John Souttar.
“I gave a 16-year-old his start and I believe he is the youngest player to play for United,” said Houston.
“He was nervous to begin with when playing 10-yard passes but one of the things he has in him is that he is good on the ball and will be a player at centre-half eventually for United.
“I rate him so highly and I wasn’t frightened to put him on today. I could have gone with the safety option of Sean Dillon there but chose not to, using him in the middle of the park instead.
“John, after 10 or 15 minutes, did very well and all credit to him. This was forced upon us because of injuries and suspensions but I am not scared to give young players a chance.
“Indeed, both teams had plenty of young talent on show, none better than Johnny Russell and Stuart Armstrong who I thought were both a constant threat to Aberdeen.
“But I find it hard to single out any individuals because I thought it was a good team performance.”
Houston felt his team were a little hard done by in the lead-up to Niall McGinn’s free-kick that made it 2-2.
“A draw might have been a fair result but the wee thing I am annoyed with is that I didn’t think it was a free-kick for Aberdeen when Jon Daly won the header and McGinn was backing into him,” he said.
“There were loads of incidents like that in the middle of the park so I don’t know why it was given just outside our box when Jon was just standing his ground.
“Great credit to the players, though, for coming back from a goal down again.
“I thought we were dangerous on the counter-attack and the players worked really hard. I think there were a lot of star performances in our team today.”
Aberdeen boss Craig Brown, meanwhile, noted with interest the debut for young Souttar.
“I would like to commend Dundee United’s young boy Souttar,” he said. “I thought he played very well and was not replaced later on through a lack of efficiency he was maybe just tired. I like to see young players coming in.”
iroache@thecourier.co.uk
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