DEREK Fazackerley says the increasing cost of English players has prompted Oxford United to look abroad this summer after the club were strongly linked with another overseas signing.

A newspaper in Sweden has suggested Halmstad’s Ivo Pekalski is poised to sign for the U’s, who have brought in players from the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil in the last month.

The 26-year-old midfielder, who has been capped by Sweden’s senior side, worked with United manager Pep Clotet at Malmo in 2010.

Fazackerley, United’s assistant head coach, was unaware of the latest situation, but admitted the midfielder had been mentioned.

He said: “I know it’s mooted, but I don’t know exactly where we are with it.”

Before moving on, U’s boss Michael Appleton had suggested Scandinavia was a market the club’s recruitment department were examining.

And Clotet’s time spent working in Sweden has helped accelerate the process, with prices for homegrown players on the rise.

Fazackerley said: “We’ve certainly missed out on one or two of them this summer.

“From a finance point of view some of the foreign markets are slightly cheaper than the English Premier League.

“It gets more difficult every year and Pep coming in – because of his experience in Scandinavia and his knowledge of Spain – has opened up one or two more markets for us.

“It was something we were looking to do anyway, it’s probably just brought it forward 12 months.”