EXBERT IN HIS FIELD

Dutch stopper jets in to join Tangerines

- BY SCOTT BURNS

JIM GOODWIN is ready to bolster his Euro-bound Dundee United squad with Dutch defender Bert Esselink as he cranks up the intensity of pre-season.

The Tannadice boss has been putting his players through the wringer ahead of their Europa Conference League qualifier with UNA Strassen and wants 25-year-old Esselink to bring steel and experience to his backline.

Esselink, who has so far spent his entire senior career outside of the Netherlands after coming through the youth ranks of De Graafschap, is a free agent after leaving Stal Mielec at the end of his deal.

His two years in Poland followed spells in Cyprus with PAEEK and moved on to APOEL, where he had a loan at Olympiakos Nicosia.

Esselink would add depth at centre-half alongside fellow new boy Iurie Iovi, Ross Graham and Sam Cleal-Harding.