Man City step up strikers search

Thaksin has enjoyed a remarkable start to life as City's owner

Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson will have funds available to buy new strikers in January, according to club owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

City spent £40m revamping their squad over the summer after the former Thai prime minister completed his takeover.

He said: "All the fans know we need strikers, so Sven is looking to add some players, not many - just a few."

Thaksin also paid tribute to Eriksson's achievement in leading a much-changed City to third in the Premier League.

"We're lucky we have Sven," the Thai told BBC Sport.

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"He helped us a lot in terms of putting the team together because they all come from different clubs, different countries, but they are a very good team because of Sven."

Former England boss Eriksson confirmed he is looking to bring in "one or two" new players in January.

He added: "If we do something in January, we're not going to buy eight or nine new players. Absolutely not.

"But if we buy anything it must be really top quality because we have a good team and we play good football and to make that better you must take in top quality."

City travel to Chelsea on Saturday where victory would take them seven points clear of the Stamford Bridge outfit.

Eriksson has brought the likes of Elano, Martin Petrov and Vedran Corluka into the team to play alongside established City stars Richard Dunne, Michael Johnson and Micah Richards.

Strikers Rolando Bianchi and Valeri Bojinov were also brought in over the summer but Bojinov suffered a serious knee injury just six minutes into his first start for the club.

Italian Bianchi, who cost £8.8m from Reggina, has failed to settle and was not even on the bench for Saturday's win over Birmingham.