Curbishley set for £10m spending spree

Alan Curbishley will have a £10million war chest to recruit new players in the summer as Charlton attempt to establish themselves among the Premiership's leading clubs.

The manager has been assured that all the money from the sale of Scott Parker will be made available to strengthen his squad.

He has no plans to make any rushed signings before the transfer window closes on Monday, but will be in a position of strength once the £10m-plus deal with Chelsea for the midfielder is completed.

Curbishley believes his squad is strong enough to cope with the loss of the England international and that he is likely to get better value for money with new players in a deflated transfer marker at the end of the season.

He has been promised the impressive transfer fund because the club believe that is the best response to the disappointment of losing Parker. They have revealed plans to expand The Valley to 40,600 but the money for those improvements will be found elsewhere.

Curbishley said: "None of the money will used on the stadium and all of it will be given to me to spend. I only spent a million pounds last summer and we'll spend this very carefully. I'm not going to spend any money in this window and won't rush out and spend any money this week. We'll go to town in the summer."

Curbishley is keen on winger Andy Reid and centre-back Michael Dawson at Nottingham Forest and has previously targeted Real Madrid's young striker Javier Portillo. He has steadily raised his ambitions in the transfer market in recent years and all three would be realistic options with a £10m transfer fund.

Parker was due to be unveiled as a Chelsea player at lunchtime and will be registered in time to be eligible for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The deal - which includes Carlton Cole staying with Charlton on loan for a second season - should also allow him to be registered with the Premier League in time to play for Claudio Ranieri's side at Blackburn on Sunday.

But Curbishley is adamant that the loss of his star midfielder will not undermine his team's attempt to qualify for the Champions League.

Charlton are fourth in the Premiership after going seven games unbeaten and Curbishley is aiming to close the gap to third-placed Chelsea by beating Bolton tomorrow. He said: "We're Chelsea's nearest challengers and they've just bought one of our players but we can close the gap on them."

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