SVEN-Goran Eriksson will have to sell to buy if he is to bring in more new faces in the remaining five days of the summer transfer window.

The Blues boss has made it clear that he would like to strengthen his squad with at least one and possibly as many as three new faces before Friday's looming deadline.

But having already spent close to a budget-busting £40m and added a whopping £15-£20m to the already large wage bill, he knows he will need to wheel and deal or wait until the January window.

Billionaire owner Thaksin Shinawatra promised Eriksson £50m to spend in the first weeks of his tenure and has been true to his word, but he and chief executive Alistair Mackintosh will not let the payroll get out of hand.

Surplus

The three men are in agreement that there are already too many senior players at the Carrington headquarters.

Eriksson will, however, make one last ditch bid to sign Palermo's Aussie midfielder Mark Bresciano and possibly bring in a loan striker, though that might change if he can successfully off-load some of the players he inherited and has swiftly deemed surplus to requirements.

It is not so much the fees the fallen stars of Stuart Pearce's reign may command, but the wages that they would free up that could be crucial as Eriksson hopes a currently quiet market is poised for take-off.

The Blues are frustrated that former Villa striker Darius Vassell has turned down a £1m move to bottom of the table Derby.

It is understood that the Rams wanted to give the versatile and speedy 27-year-old who last year played wide as a striker and `in the hole' behind a lone frontman, a three-year deal but the neglected City ace turned down the move to Pride Park.

Vassell had previously said `no' to a switch to Turkish side Besiktas after City had accepted an offer. He has one year left on his current deal and has yet to even warm the bench for the high-flying Blues this season.

The former England man is one of a handful of players who will be allowed to leave permanently following the departure on loan of Matt Mills and Ishmael Miller but so far there have been precious few callers at Sven's door.

Internationals Georgios Samaras, Bernardo Corradi, Danny Mills and Paul Dickov are those most likely to leave if the right deal can be made.

Eriksson, who has abandoned his search for a goalkeeper, would then look to strengthen his midfield resources and perhaps bring in a striker with Inter Milan's out of favour Brazilian Adriano on loan and over-priced old boy Nicolas Anelka still possible targets.

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