GARY Megson is willing to cherry-pick players from the lower leagues in January.

The Wanderers boss has openly stated he is on the lookout for reinforcements to bolster his squad when the transfer window re-opens.

And he could be forced to look outside the Premier League after claiming some of his top-flight targets would be out of the club’s financial reach.

Megson has apparently been monitoring Swansea’s Dutch midfielder Ferrie Bodde and was strongly linked with Reading’s James Harper in the summer.

Leeds United and England Under-21s starlet Fabian Delph has also been mentioned as a possible target, although lower league bargains are becoming harder and harder to find.

“It’s a gamble because the gap between the Premier League and the Championship is getting bigger and bigger but there are players who are capable of making that step up,” Megson said.

“Look at Everton. Phil Jagielka, Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott were cherry-picked from the lower levels but put together in a decent squad they have done brilliantly.”

Megson underlined the need for reinforcements after Saturday’s 3-1 win at Middlesbrough in which Wanderers picked up five bookings.

“We’ve got probably the smallest squad that’s ever been in the Premier League and we’ve got to improve on that in January,” he said, mindful of the strains of injuries and suspension.

“I don’t feel we’ve got a team that will struggle but we’ve got a squad that will struggle and, if we have to cope with a few injuries, we might struggle if we don’t bring players in. It will be a problem for us coping with suspensions. When we were without Johan Elmander, Gary Cahill and Matt Taylor at the start of the season we weren’t doing particularly well.”

Megson installed an extensive new scouting system in the summer to cover several emerging European countries not previously considered by the club.

And he admits Wanderers may be forced to think outside the box in order to find enough quality reinforcements.

“A lot of things have changed in football,” he said. “Ten years ago you could go to the really big clubs and take their fringe players, give them first team football and everything was hunky-dory.

“But now there is the financial issue that because these players are on such huge money they don’t have to get off their backsides unless they actually want to. And it isn’t always the case.

“I’m sure that the other teams in the bottom 12 or 14 will all be looking abroad, in the lower levels. That’s why we have got the scouting system.”

Megson has previously been critical of modern-day players ‘sitting’ on lucrative contracts while not playing regular football, and that is part of the reason he is having to cast his net further than he might have done in the past.

The Whites boss can think of few examples of players willing to take a drop in pay to guarantee more first- team appearances.

“It’s not about having the bottle, but it is not like it used to be,” he said.

“They are human beings, they have got their wife and kids settled, they have got a huge amount of money. They want to play, but they want everything going for them.

“I took Jonathan Greening from Middlesbrough to West Brom and they wanted to cut his wages to such an extent that I doubt there would be many who would have done what he did. He was just desperate to play football.

“He took a huge drop in finance and it could have got worse if they had got relegated, but thankfully for him, they didn’t. Now he has benefited from that.

“But I’m not sure that would happen much nowadays.”