LONDON, Dec 6: 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.

Peter Kenyon, Chelsea chief executive, 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 added. “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.”—AFP