Csaba Laszlo must sell before recruitment can begin

Published on Tuesday 1 December 2009 21:34

HEARTS manager Csaba Laszlo has confessed he will have to sell one of his main assets if he is to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window.

The Tynecastle manager is desperate to add more quality to his side after watching them languish in the lower half of the SPL this term. A striker is the Hungarian's number one priority, and Laszlo has called for talks with the Hearts board in recent days to discuss the way ahead.

However, the former Ferencvaros and Uganda head coach is still awaiting the chance to put his plans to the club's hierarchy and is resigned to being unable to freshen up his pool unless he offloads the likes of Andrew Driver, Lee Wallace or Jose Goncalves in the new year.

Laszlo said: "I don't ask for more players, I ask only for different thinking and different plans to what we've had before. It is not always the players. Definitely up front we must have more strikers and more offensive players. But I know the situation from the club. We have a difficult situation, if we don't sell I don't think we have the possibility to bring in new players. The most important thing is not to think about yourself but about the club and what is best for the club, this is my job."

Goncalves is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with a possible pre-contract bid from Celtic next month. However, Hearts may prefer to receive at least some cash for the Portuguese defender in January rather than allow him to move on for free at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Laszlo has been handed a rare piece of good news on the injury front with X-rays revealing Wallace does not have a broken ankle and could yet be restored to the line-up for Sunday's trip to Hamilton.

However, it has been reported that Driver has been told to rest until January following a visit to a specialist in London last week. The England under-21 cap has been diagnosed with tendonitis.