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Sneijder family name means nothing to McNamara

Rodney Sneijder and Jackie McNamara.
Rodney Sneijder and Jackie McNamara.

Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara isn’t interested in his latest signing’s surname.

It is Rodney’s Sneijder’s ability with a football at his feet that convinced the Tangerines’ boss to bring Wesley’s young brother to Tannadice.

“There’s a tag that comes with him because of his name,” McNamara admitted. “But he’s not here because of his brother.

“He’s here because he’s a good footballer and we’ve seen things in him when he’s trained with us that suggest he’ll be a good player for us. That’s the most important thing.

“When I sat down with him in Holland we spoke about how it might be the right time for him to go away and make his own name.

“He’s good enough to do that.”

As the son of a footballing father, does McNamara have an insight into the pressures of following in somebody else’s footsteps?

“It’s not quite the same,” he joked. “No disrespect to my old man!

“I remember Paul Dalglish. It can be difficult but the most important thing is he’s got a hunger to make his own name, which I like.

“I know he’s played a number of positions around midfield, but first and foremost he’s a creative footballer.

“He’s got awareness, creativity and vision.

“It will be a case of getting him fit. That will take maybe a week or two.

“He’s got a decent level just now but we want to get him 100%.”

Along with fellow new recruit, Darko Bodul, Sneijder is at a career crossroads.

But McNamara drew a positive parallel for the pair.

“They’ve both got fantastic ability and I’m sure they’ll be good signings for us,” he pointed out.

“It’s possibly a similar scenario to Nadir (Ciftci) a couple of years ago.

“It’s an opportunity for them to make a name for themselves.

“There’s always reasons a player moves on. Look at Nadir. He came on trial after falling out with his coach at Breda and losing his way a wee bit.

“There are thousands of players like that. Scott Allan is another example. He went down south and has come back and is enjoying his football again.

“I want to see these two lads get back to enjoying their football again. If we do that we’ve got two fantastic players.”

McNamara doesn’t expect to make any more signings before Sunday’s first league match against Aberdeen.

“Not at the moment,” he said. “It’s more likely there will be players going out rather than coming in.

“I’ve got a real decision to make on Sunday, not just for the starting XI but for the bench.

Celtic midfielder Liam Henderson has been linked with United, but McNamara reported: “There was talk of that when they were in for Nadir but I’ve not heard anything on that.”