Last Updated: Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:11
Sam Allardyce has admitted he could wait until the final day of the transfer window in order to sign the right striker for Blackburn.
The Rovers chief confirmed on Thursday that he might have to use a significant chunk of the summer transfer kitty at his disposal to bring in attacking reinforcements following the departure of Roque Santa Cruz to Manchester City and Matt Derbyshire to Olympiakos.
And while several possible names have been thrown into the mix, including Real Madrid's former Manchester United hitman Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Allardyce insists he will wait as long as possible to get the best player he can for the money available to him. And if that means holding out until prices drop in the final hours of the window on August 31, he is prepared to do that.
"You'll see it build and build until August 30 again and that's when it goes into mayhem and mad city," Allardyce told the Lancashire Telegraph.
"I don't want to be involved at the back end of August if I can help it but that's when actually they don't get more expensive, they get an awful lot cheaper.
"So we may have to, but I hope not."
He added: "It's going to be the most crucial decision I make this season, because while we've got two very experienced Premier League strikers in Jason [Roberts] and Benni [McCarthy], they are the only two front men with goals in them we have.
"Dioufy can play up there but he's not a goalscorer and obviously we know Chris Samba can play up there if we need him to but he's not going to score that many goals.
"We want a front man who is going to make a big contribution."