Di Matteo seeking a cash boost; Boss bids to bolster his squad.Byline: Chris Lepkowski ROBERTO Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (born May 29, 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland) is a Swiss-Italian former professional footballer. A midfielder, his career consisted of spells at Schaffhausen (1988-91), Zürich (1991-92), Aarau (1992-93), Lazio (1993-96), and Chelsea (1996-2002). will seek financial backing for the January transfer window in a bid to bolster Albion's first-team squad. The Baggies traditionally run a 'topping-up' policy during the New Year. That would generally mean Di Matteo needing to generate cash through the sale of existing players, although the Italian hopes that his board will relax that policy in the light of Albion's excellent progress. He aims to recruit a striker and a centre-half during the window, having also cited concerns about the with a view to a permanent deal. Meanwhile, Di Matteo has revealed he is enjoying the challenge of tackling the huge expectation at The Hawthorns. After going top on Saturday Di Matteo will, inevitably, be compared to his predecessors, two of whom - Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May, 1959 in Manchester) is a former English footballer and manager. He has recently been appointed as Leicester City's new manager. As a player, he is arguably best remembered from his days at Sheffield Wednesday, where his father Don Megson also played and Tony Mowbray Tony Mowbray, (born November 22 1963), is a former professional football player and the manager of West Bromwich Albion. Playing career Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic, and finally Ipswich Town as a tough centre half. - both achieved promotion with the club. But the Italian has no qualms about meeting the demands of Albion supporters, who have grown accustomed to success at this level following three promotions in their last four Championship campaigns. "This club absolutely fills my expectations," said Di Matteo. "It's great to be able to work for a club like this because I'm ambitious myself. "You Y can't get any higher than top. I think we can be pleased with that after 17 games. We can't be complacent com·pla·cent adj. 1. Contented to a fault; self-satisfied and unconcerned: He had become complacent after years of success. 2. Eager to please; complaisant. . "The expectations are very high at this club and you can see from the supporters that expectations are high. "Considering we've never had Miller or Morrison - two big players for us. We didn't really replace them and we have a very young squad. "Considering that you wouldn't expect us to be where we are. "It seems, after 17 games, we can be very competitive with the other teams. But as long as stay at the right end of the table as long as possible, that's good for us." Albion are also waiting for the results of a scan on Joe Mattock's foot. Early indications suggested it wasn't too serious but Di Matteo said: "He'll have an X-ray and we'll see." CAPTION(S): Plans: Roberto |
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