BRUCE TO TACKLE GRAY AREAS

Steve Bruce has claimed that he is looking to add a big name to his Birmingham squad.

Bruce is targeting a left-sided player after the departure of Julian Gray to Coventry left him short of cover in that department.

And Tottenham midfielder Hossam Ghaly is believed to be on the radar of the Blues manager, who has only limited funds to play with and is having to offload several players to generate extra revenue.

However, Bruce told PA Sport that he is keen to strengthen, and wants to add experience and a big name to his squad.

"I haven't finished with all my signings yet. If you look at it, so far we've lost four players from last season's squad and three of them were in the team.

"We've lost Andrew Cole, Nicklas Bendtner and Bruno N'Gotty - and it looks like Stephen Clemence and DJ Campbell could be going - and my immediate thought was to replace what I've lost.

"We've done that with Olivier Kapo and Garry O'Connor but we're still short on the left-hand side with the loss of Julian Gray and I've got to try to do a little bit more.

"I'd also love now to bring in a little bit of experience. We're after a bit of a name at the moment but I may have to do a bit of wheeling and dealing to get him."

Blues are confident they will be able to secure a work permit for Ghana international goalkeeper Richard Kingson sooner rather than later.

And Bruce admitted he is still to decide who will be his number one with Colin Doyle, who played the final third of last season, and Northern Ireland international Maik Taylor also in contention.

He said: "We are hoping that the work permit for Richard will be done in the next week or so.

"I haven't said who is going to be my first choice but the one thing I needed was three goalkeepers. You need three 'keepers in the Premier League.

"The last thing I needed if someone got injured was scraping around to try and find another 'keeper and so we have acted.

"Doyley finished off the season in really great form and Maik has come back in really good shape. I've got competition. I will make a decision in the next few weeks."

Taken from=FootBall365=