WEST HAM boss Avram Grant wants to bring in at least three players during the January transfer window as the Hammers battle to avoid the dreaded drop into the Championship.

Rumours that Chris Hughton will replace the beleaguered Israeli seem to be just that, as co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan are already discussing with Grant the amount of funds available when the window opens.

For the manager, January is a vital month. “I don’t know how much money we will have, we are still discussing it,” said the boss. “We also need to remember that the owners bought the club with big debt.”

They had those debts last year, but still splashed the cash during the window to bring in Benni McCarthy, Ilan and Mido to bolster their survival chances.

Grant knows that he will need to do the same thing next month and the amount of players he brings in will depend on the prospects of his players still on the treatment table.

“January will be very important, but the squad depends on the amount of injuries,” he said. “I think against Manchester City there were eight players out, so we need to see if they can play.

“If their injuries are long term we will need to think about more players, but at the moment, we are thinking about two or three positions that can help us.”

Unless West Ham can grab a win at Blackburn on Saturday and Wolves lose to West Brom 24 hours later, the Hammers will find themselves bottom of the League at Christmas, a position that only West Brom in 2005 managed to survive from in Premier League history.

It is not something that worries Grant however: “It is one more challenge to show that it is not like this,” said the boss. “I think the next month will be very important for us. We cannot continue to say we are playing good without getting points.”

So just how much does Grant think he needs to get his team up the table? A suggested figure of �10million, certainly got the manager excited.

“Do you think I will get �10m?” Grant asked journalists with surprise. “With �10m we can do a lot, we can make the team much stronger, even though January is not a good transfer window.

“You can’t have confidence about everything. You cannot be 100 per cent, but I think anyhow we can stay in the league. I think we will do that.

“Four points from safety is not much when you have more than half the season to go.”

Maybe, but with just two league wins all season, even if every player returns to full fitness in the next month or two, Grant is still going to need to be astute in the transfer window if he is going to turn things round.

Looking at his signings so far, the jury is still out.