| With Marlon King no longer with the club, Roberto Martinez has acknowledged that he must strengthen his squad in January with a couple strikers expected to be brought in. |
Hugo Rodallega and Jason Scotland are the only forwards at the club who are out and out goal scorers. Scott Sinclair and Olivier Kapo can both be used as emergency strikers but should Rodallega or Scotland suffer an injury, the squad would be very short on attacking options. One player who has been linked to the club for a number of months now is Espanyol striker Raul Tamudo. Tamudo is unsettled in Spain and Martinez is apparently keen on the Spanish striker who has scored 129 goals in 334 appearances for the Barcelona based side.
Martinez has also stated today that the club does not have to sell players come January to raise funds for new players. Time will tell on whether there will be departures from the club as Maynor Figueroa continues to be linked to Sunderland to join up with former boss Steve Bruce.
Martinez told the Evening Post: "I am not worried about losing any players in January.
"As a club, we are in a very, very good position.
"What we are trying to do is build something for the future, to qualify for Europe and, to do that, you need to find a little bit of consistency.
"In that respect, I like it when the press and people away from the club speak highly of our players and their performance levels.
"It is a great sign that we are doing something right – and I wouldn't say it is a worry for our fans at all.
"It is a compliment, and we'll take it as exactly that." "First and foremost, we are looking for the solutions within the players we already have in the squad.
"There are certain players who've been working extremely hard behind the scenes, and when chances are available, it is up to them to take them.
"We need to help those players first, but we can, of course, look to re-address the situation in the window.
"In the short-term, we have to find the solutions already in the squad. In the longer term, we need to make sure we keep improving and helping the players we already have here to be stronger.
"That is something we will definitely look to do in January.
"My main priority at the moment is working with the squad at the training ground, and trying to improve the consistency in the squad.
"Our recruitment department will always try to help the players we already have by improving the squad, but that does not get any more
important the closer we get to a transfer window."
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