Determined Robbie Neilson is keen to bolster Dundee United's squad ahead of their Premiership return but admits his signing plans remain up in the air.
The ex-Hearts boss has revealed former Celtic and Aberdeen star Jonny Hayes is high on his and recruitment chief Tony Asghar's transfer agenda but has urged a note of caution over any potential deal for the 32-year-old.
Hayes is a free agent after leaving the Premiership champions at the end of the season and a clutch of English Championship clubs are keeping a close eye on the Republic of Ireland international.
Speaking on the BBC Sportsound podcast, the United boss said: "We know Jonny. He’s been a great player over the years and he's one that we have spoken about but financially we don't know where we are."
And Neilson admits the wide man isn't the only player on his watchlist as he looks to navigate a signing window unlike any other amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added: "Kevin Nesbit is one at Dunfermline we've had an interest in January but we couldn't get the deal done.
"He's one that's on the list, like I say, it's uncertain times, what's the budget going to be? Can we do it?
"There's positions we need to fill, Tony's working on that at the moment, one or two then we'll take it from there.
"They (Nesbit and Hayes) are two players we're looking at, two players we are interested in but it is so uncertain we don't know what we can do."
Neilson admits the Tannadice club are ready to widen their transfer search with players from across Europe set to be on their agenda.
He added: "The Scottish market lives off the English market for selling players, so if the English market isn't open then they aren't going to buy our players which will ignite us to go and get someone else.
"You also have Brexit, so you have the January window that we've got to start looking at.
"The way they are talking about visas for players coming in and out, this might be more of a global market for us, Tony and I have been speaking, it might be an opportunity to bring players outwith the EU in January.
"It opens up a whole different can of worms.
"Although we are speaking about this window, we're also looking at the next one when Brexit comes in.
"Where we can start looking at the next market and hopefully we can get ahead of the game."
