Dundee United coach Darren Jackson insists no one at the club is distracted by scouts sitting in the stands running the rule over their prize assets.
Saturday’s game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid saw representatives from Southampton and Arsenal watching the game with interest believed to be focused on the Tangerines’ star striker Nadir Ciftci and teenager John Souttar.
Celtic are also believed to be keeping tabs on the duo however Jackson says scouts at matches are simply a fact of footballing life.
He said: “It’s just speculation. Scouts are at most games so you just have to accept it. As someone said, it can be looked on as a compliment but you don’t know they are there so it doesn’t really affect us.
“We just carry on and do our jobs and hopefully they go away!
“But that’s what happens when you have young boys who are doing well. It has happened all season.
“There is nothing you can do about scouts at games.
“We just have to concentrate on winning the last two matches.”
While most clubs would be concerned that alleged interest from the likes of English Premier sides could possibly turn the head of an 18-year-old, Jackson insists he has no such concerns over “laid-back” Souttar who has taken to his new midfield role like a duck to water.
The coach said: “He’s a young kid who is a huge prospect. Unfortunately, he got a really bad injury at the start of the season and it has affected him.
“He has just come back in now and he has changed position.
“I think he has handled the situation really well.
“He just takes everything in his stride. He is totally laid back.
“Soapy doesn’t worry about anything. You see that in his play where he will take the ball, sell three people a dummy at the edge of our box and you are like, ‘No! No!’, but that is the way he plays.
“That’s what makes him such a good player.”
All the United players involved in Saturday’s draw against Saints came through the match unscathed.
With Ryan McGowan, Paul Paton, Ryan Dow and Mario Bilate already ruled out for the season because of injury, that was a relief for the United management.
Jackson added: “Everyone is fine after Saturday and back training.
“That’s pleasing as we already have Pates, Gowser, Dowser and Mario out for the season.
“It is hard but at this stage of the season you sometimes get that.
“As for the game itself, you always look at it as a couple of points dropped.
“The pitch was hard, we’ve had chances and you would probably say a draw was a fair result but when you go 1-0 up . . . I’m not sure if we defended their goal well enough.
“So you end up disappointed with just a point.”