The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
New striker Kallman says he can end Dundee woes in front of goal
Highly rated Finland international goes straight into McCann’s squad
Benjamin Kallman is confident he can be the man who finally converts Dundee’s golden chances.
The 20-year-old striker, who yesterday joined from Finnish club Inter-Turku on a season-long loan with an option for the Dark Blues to buy him thereafter, knows only too well what is expected of him.
The club badly needs a finisher and the Finland international believes they can stop searching because they have now found one.
Kallman will go straight into Neil McCann’s squad for today’s home Betfred Cup clash with Ayr United.
The temptation must be to throw him into the starting line-up, with misses costing them so dearly in the league clashes against Aberdeen and St Mirren.
Having played as recently as last weekend back in his homeland, the new man is raring to go.
Kallman said: “I can score the goals. I think the best situation for a young striker to come into is one where the team is creating a lot of chances.
“I am happy to put them away. That is what I hope to do.
“I have scored goals at every level I have played at. I scored three in my last home game for Inter-Turku (against Mariehamn).
“I think I am the kind of player who will fit into Scottish football in general and Dundee in particular.”
He added: “I am a physical player and I like to battle.
“I also like the team to play out from the back, which Dundee does.
“They have been playing good football, I believe.
“I have already trained so things are moving pretty fast.”
The club said they fought off competition from other European clubs to get their man and it will help Kallman he has a fellow Finnish international at the club in the form of Glen Kamara.
They both featured in a 2-1 friendly win over Jordan in January.
Kallman added: “I obviously knew Glen was here and that he has been a success.
“That was a small factor in my decision and made it easier because there is a familiar face here already. He is a great player as well.
“I didn’t know too much about Dundee, apart from Googling them a little bit once it was mentioned to me.
“They seem to me like a classic club and I like that.
“I heard about their interest over a week ago when my agent called me to say it was a good opportunity.
“I said I was interested but there were many ups and downs after that. Now I am here.”
Kallman revealed he has a famous sporting father, Mikael, who was a major star in handball.
Indeed, he could have chosen hand over foot himself had he wanted to.
He explained: “My father played handball at the highest level in Germany.
“So you could say I come from a sporting family.
“I played both sports as a child and I have been asked about 50,000 times why I chose football over handball.
“I guess it was just more fun and I was better at football.”
Dundee boss McCann, meanwhile, revealed not only had they done their homework on Kallman but Inter-Turku had researched Dundee to see if they would be a good fit for their young frontman.
McCann said: “We were recommended him a while back so we have been keeping an eye on him.
“We have been working very hard behind the scenes to get things done.
“It is a year’s loan to the end of the season and we have an option to buy him if it all works out.
“It won’t be a small fee because he is highly regarded and we had to beat off competition to get him here.
“They did their homework on us and looked at our stats from last season, in terms of how we played and the chances we created.
“It is interesting to see how deeply they have looked into it to make sure we are the right fit for him.”
Kallman will be joined in the Dundee squad by his compatriot Kamara, who is injury-free, and Lewis Spence.
Ayr manager Ian McCall reckons his Honest Men will have no hangover from their Irn-Bru Cup penalty-kick defeat to Queen’s Park in midweek.
The Somerset Park side failed to see off their League 2 opponents at Hampden but there has been little time spent on reflection.
McCall said: “I used to really enjoy that cup competition, however the changes that have been made to it have lessened that enjoyment so we will move on from the Queen’s Park game very quickly.”
Dundee can expect to see a player they were keen on recently up against them.
McCall said: “We made nine changes to our starting line-up on Tuesday and we will be back on more usual lines for Dens Park.
“Put it this way, Lawrence Shankland will be playing from the start.”
McCall is looking for his side to rise to the challenge of being underdogs and get through to the last eight.
He said: “From what I have picked up Dundee were unlucky to lose to Aberdeen last weekend and particularly unlucky not to score.
“They will be a top six team by the end of the season and we are huge underdogs to do anything but we will look to cause a shock.
“However, we are playing well, have lost only one goal all season, so we have the right to be confident about playing in any game. We will look to take the game to Dundee and see where we end up.”