Scolari pleads for new striker

Luiz Felipe Scolari is desperate to persuade Chelsea's money-men to give him a new striker in the January transfer window.

Scolari believes he needs one more top-class attacker to cope with the demands of competing for silverware on three fronts after seeing his squad decimated by injuries in the first half of the season.

Despite losing Didier Drogba, Joe Cole, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho for long periods, Chelsea went into the weekend behind Premier League leaders Liverpool by just one point and will book their place in the Champions League second round if they beat CFR Cluj at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Scolari knows achieving success in both those competitions, as well as the FA Cup, would be a lot easier if Blues owner Roman Abramovich is willing to loosen the purse strings.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has made it clear several times this season that there will be little money to spend in January as a result of the global credit crunch, which has affected even a billionaire like Abramovich.

But Scolari, who missed out on Robinho to Manchester City as Chelsea refused to get in a bidding war for the Brazilian, will plead with Kenyon and Abramovich to splash out on one player in the new year.

“I need an attacking player. For the game against Arsenal I lost (Franco) Di Santo and (Didier) Drogba. For the Bolton game I had only (Nicolas) Anelka. If I have one more player I have options to change,” Scolari said.

“I know it is a difficult time for change but if I have more injuries they understand I need one or two players to replace people. If the players are in good conditions I think it is maximum one player more that we need.

Scolari's primary target could be CSKA Moscow striker Vagner Love after the Brazilian boss admitted he is firm admirer of his compatriot.

“Vagner Love is a very good player. He played in Palmeiras after I was there,” he said. “Now he is in Russia but I don't think about A, B or C. I have some names and if the situation is normal I try to think about one more player.”

Scolari has been shocked by the amount of injuries his stars have suffered since he arrived in July and is working to find a solution.

In the meantime, the problem has become so severe he has been forced to name untried youngsters like Miroslav Stoch, Franco Di Santo, Michael Woods and Scott Sinclair among his substitutes.

“When I arrived I didn't want more players than I already had because I didn't think I would have injuries every week,” he said.

“I thought the players would be ready for training but I learned that in the last three or four years the players have been injured more than I thought.

“Because I have many injuries I say to the board I need maybe one player. I lost one player – (Michael) Essien – who is very important and can play in five positions.

“The solution is sometimes young players but I don't want to put pressure on them.

“We are in a good position until now because we play well and score important goals. The senior players have to understand that they need to keep going because we can't change.”