New Cardiff City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer plans to strengthen the Bluebirds’ squad in the January transfer window, Sky Sports reports.
The former Manchester United striker, 40, led Cardiff — 8/15 to avoid relegation — to an FA Cup win over Newcastle United in his first match in charge of the club on Saturday.
Solskjaer, who won three trophies while in charge of Tippeligaen side Molde FK over the past three seasons, will be looking for January reinforcements in order to bolster the Bluebirds’ chances of Premier League survival.
“I have a solid foundation here but it’s a long season,” said Solskjaer.
“It’s the longest and hardest and most intense season in any football country, so the depth of the squad is something I am looking at, of course.
“But the quality is there. We have got loads of quality to work with and then maybe some additions to blend in.
“Of course we have not had a lot of time on the training ground, so we have had to go through a few things in the meetings.
“But the foundation is there. The performance against Arsenal, that was, for me, very pleasing to see.
“It was very exciting to see the way they defended against a top, top, top team, Arsenal away from home.
“They lasted 88 minutes and that was a good performance. For me, it was just to build on that a few things going forward, and we defended fantastically at Newcastle.”
Solskjaer handed Andreas Cornelius his second start of the season in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Newcastle at St James’ Park.
The highly-rated Denmark international, 20, did not manage a shot, yet alone a shot on target, and was substituted after 59 minutes.
Three minutes later, Papiss Demba Cisse gave the hosts the lead before Craig Noone (73′) and Fraizer Campbell (80′) completed the comeback for Cardiff.
The Bluebirds will look to keep their momentum going when they play host to West Ham United on Matchday 21 in the English Premier League on Saturday, 11 January 2014.
Centre-back duo Ben Turner and Steven Caulker will likely be tasked with marking giant Cote d’Ivoire international striker Lacina Traore, who stands at 2.03 metres tall.
Traore, 23, is set to join the Hammers on loan from Russian Premier League strugglers Anzhi Makhachkala until the end of the season, having already agreed a deal to move to Monaco in the summer.
Bayern intend to keep Mandzukic
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has revealed the club intend to keep Mario Mandzukic after agreeing a pre-contract with Robert Lewandowski.
Lewandowski, 26, agreed a five-year deal with the European champions on Saturday, fueling speculation suggesting Mandzukic is set to leave the Allianz Arena in the summer.
However, Rummenigge has rubbished the aforementioned reports, insisting Mandzukic — whose current contract expires in the summer of 2016 — will stay with the treble winners.
“We’re very happy with Mario,” said Rummenigge on the club’s official website. “He made a major contribution to us winning so many titles last year. I just have to think back to the goal in London.
“He’s a fantastic player who has come on leaps and bounds with Bayern.
“His contract runs until 2016 and I told his advisor in Marrakech that we would be willing to talk about an extension. We have absolutely no intention of selling Mario.”
Bayern are priced at 5/2 to win the UEFA Champions League.
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