Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has pledged more signings are on the way in advance of Blues' push for an instant return to the Barclays Premier League but warned fans he would wait for players with something 'a wee bit special'.

McLeish made his first signing of the summer on Monday when he snapped up Lee Carsley, who was released by Everton, and has admitted he has been inundated by agents. However, he said: "It's silly season now and all the agents have reappeared after being in hibernation since January!

"I know there are three or four players out there that would enhance the squad, but I'm looking for something a wee bit special and I will keep my powder dry at the moment.

"You don't want to miss anything if there's something available right now, but we need to do our homework."

 McLeish will jet out for a much-needed holiday soon but the quest for signings will continue with the aid of his backroom staff. He added: "I've got Paul Montgomery, our chief scout and Bernard Paintin (scout) who's long in the tooth about a lot of these players over the years.

"Andy Watson and Roy Aitken are still getting emails and DVDs sent in. We sift through what we feel is going to be beneficial to the team and we'll discard the rest, but there will be other signings."

The 34-year-old Carsley was offered a new one-year deal at Everton but the Birmingham-born midfielder decided to move back to the city on a two-year contract to be closer to his young family.

McLeish had repeatedly pointed to the lack of experience as a factor in Blues' struggles over the last few months and said he had no worries about Carsley's age.

McLeish said: "The signing of Lee is clearly a statement of intent. Our mission is to get right back to the Premier League at the first year of asking and Lee has got magnificent Premier League experience. I've got big plans for the club and I hope that Lee can help us go to another level.

"We know we face a fantastically competitive Championship and there will be many teams looking to try to get to where we want to go, so we will give it total respect. Lee's a fitness fanatic and a very strong individual and just the kind we need at this club. I'm sure he could go on for another three or four years.

"It would be great if he could come and help to take us up to the Premier League this season and then establish ourselves.

"Lee is the first signing and I believe there will be others.  We have to make sure we don't have too many in the squad so it's inevitable that some players will go."

One of those could be striker Mikael Forssell. Reports yesterday claimed that discussions with the Finland striker, who is out of contract, were about to collapse after Forssell, who is believed to earn around £20,000 a week, was given an offer on reduced wages.

However, a spokesman for the club said negotiations were on-going.