SAM Allardyce believes Javi Moreno could have as big an impact as Youri Djorkaeff at Wanderers writes Neil Bonnar

The 29-year-old striker arrived on loan from Atletico Madrid on Monday and immediately impressed the Reebok boss with his fitness levels.

The only question mark is how long the former Alaves and AC Milan attacker takes to adjust from Spanish football to the Premiership.

Allardyce said: "He has always been involved in the first-team squad with his club, unlike some of the other players we have signed at this stage of the season.

"He has played between five and eight games for Atletico this season, and the only reason he is not in the side is because they have a top drawer young striker called Torres, who will develop into one of the best in the world.

"They would like him to be playing first team football and he has that chance here.

"His fitness levels look very good and now it is just a case of him adjusting from Spain to the Premiership.

"Hopefully he can do that as well as some of our successful mid-season signings of the last two seasons like Youri Djorkaeff, Fredi Bobic and Florent Laville."

The manager added: "Moreno is a major impact signing for us.

"If we can get one or two more in who will have a similar impact to what Youri, Fredi and Florent had when they joined, we can avoid getting sucked into that awful pressure pot of trying to avoid relegation.

"If he can score some of the goals he has in the past, he will be a great boost to us.

"He has a great track record and hopefully we can rekindle some of that here."

But hopes that Moreno would be available for Wednesday night's Reebok derby duel with Premier League leaders Manchester United were in the balance.

The player has passed a medical and completed the registration formalities but Wanderers were sweating on international clearance coming through from Spain.

Nevertheless, Allardyce has expressed his gratitude to Atletico for helping fund the deal which will keep Moreno at the Reebok for the rest of the season.

"Without that he would not be here," the manager confirmed.

A lack of cash has ruled out any chance of Tunisian playmaker Mourad Melki joining Wanderers, since his club wants a fee, but Allardyce is hopeful that Ibrahim Ba will extend his stay at the Reebok until the end of the season.