Sam Allardyce has admitted that he is frustrated at West Ham's lack of movement in the transfer market.
Since making his most recent capture - that of Romania full back Razvan Rat on a free transfer a month ago - Allardyce has been thwarted in his attempts to sign the likes of Salomon Kalou, Loic Remy, Duvan Zapata and Zdravko Kuzmanovic.However the 58-year-old Hammers boss confirmed that funds are available for the right player - and insists that he is not panicking, despite West Ham's season opener against Cardiff being less than a fortnight away.
"We've been hugely frustrated in our quest over the last three weeks or so," Allardyce told whufc.com. "Whether it's been the player, the club or interference from another club attracting him to them rather than us, it has unfortunately left us with a blank space.
"All we can keep doing is try to find another player who wants to come to West Ham United and who is better than what we have already got. That is the key point - better than we already have."
Allardyce has signed three first team squad players already this summer, with Andy Carroll, Adrian and Rat arriving since the end of the 21012/13 campaign. However he has also lost players such as Gary O'Neil and Carlton Cole, who are yet to be adequately replaced.
That failure to introduce replacements of sufficient quality has however given fringe first team players such as Modibo Maiga and Ravel Morrison the opportunity to shine in pre-season, with both used heavily so far.
And whilst Allardyce believes that he is short of at least one top quality player who could slip straight into the first team - almost certainly on the right side of the forward line - he insists that he won't be making any compromises.
"We can't settle for a player to make the squad up or for a player who may play a bit-part. This player has to be a top player, as far as I'm concerned, to make an impact," he added. "We've lost more players than we've brought in, which is a slight concern to me.
"We do have funds available and we felt last week that two players were coming in, but unfortunately both fell by the wayside. The deals are not totally dead, but they've not been clinched either which has left me, the Chairmen and Martyn [Glover] extremely frustrated."
To read the full interview with Big Sam, visit the club's website.
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