Jonathan Redhead Norwich City manager Glenn Roeder is looking forward to "wheeling and dealing" in the January transfer window as he looks for the players to turn the Canaries' season around.

Jonathan Redhead

Norwich City manager Glenn Roeder is looking forward to "wheeling and dealing" in the January transfer window as he looks for the players to turn the Canaries' season around.

Several players look set to leave Carrow Road in January with the likes of strikers Leroy Lita and Antoine Sibierski and defenders John Kennedy and Ryan Bertrand all coming to the end of their loan periods with the club, although Roeder may wish to extend their spells in Norfolk, while the likes of Lee Croft and David Bell have been linked with moves away from Norwich in recent days.

And with a limited war chest likely to be at his disposal, Roeder will have to search high and low to find players who can help City climb away from 20th in the table and prompt a surge towards the play-offs in the second half of the season.

But Roeder is looking forward to the challenge and will go into the New Year armed with a hit list of talent and head of recruitment Bryan Gunn manning the phones, as he sets out to recruit some fresh faces both on permanent and temporary deals.

A central defender is a priority with Kennedy set to go back to parent club Celtic and Serbian Dejan Stefanovic out injured for the remainder of the campaign, but Roeder could also be on the lookout for a prolific striker.

"I enjoy wheeling and dealing," said Roeder. "We've been preparing for January for the last two months.

"We've got our lists of players we've targeted and we know we are actually speaking to clubs already.

"We have a list of players in positions we need covered and we work through them.

"We pick up the phone to everyone to see if they're available. If they're available they stay on the list and then we have to pick the best option.

"At the moment, Bryan Gunn, is spending his life on the telephone, reporting back to me on targets I've chosen myself to try to get. We now know already that some we can get and some we can't get because the clubs are not interested in doing anything with those."

Despite his relish at the recruitment task ahead, Roeder is not a fan of the transfer windows and believes that one day they may fall foul of European trade laws, just

in the way Jean-Marc Bosman challenged the rulebook in 1995, to allow out of contract players to move between clubs for no fee.

Roeder himself says players should be allowed to move between clubs at a time of their own choosing.

"I think the transfer windows are not a good thing," the City boss said.

"I think there's a restriction on trade when they're closed and I think one day that will be challenged, just the way transfer fees when a player's contract had run out were challenged by Bosman.

"And I think ultimately when a challenge goes to the European courts, the argument will be won in favour of being a restriction on trade and when the window is closed players can't go from one club to another to continue their employment or to better themselves."