SAM Allardyce is waiting for the football agents to start ringing him up. And he can't wait.

The Reebok boss is desperate to do some business to boost and freshen up his squad.

And he sees agents as the vital component in making transfers happen.

Allardyce will have no money to spend with the transfer window opens for a month in January. But loan signings will be made. Big Sam's dilemma will be to pick the two or so players he wants most.

He has already earmarked centre half and centre forward as the two positions he most wants to fill and he has started his search by taking Argentinian pair Luis Enrique Rueda and Nicolas Maidana on trial.

Allardyce believes the lack of action on the transfer scene for eight months of the year will make agents extra hungry to do business during the open periods.

He said: "Agents will be more helpful than ever in January.

"In the past they would not have turned out of bed in January but now they will be chasing around for business."

Allardyce is not one of those who is suspicious of agents. On the contrary he sees them as an important tool which makes the transfer merry-go-round work.

"Agents are certainly very important to us," he explained.

"There is not a deal been done to bring a player here where there has not been an agent involved."

The speculation machine will soon be in full throttle linking Wanderers with a host of potential loan signings.

Thirty-year-old pair Rueda, a striker, and Maidana, a defender, who play their football for Racing Club in Buenos Aires have the first chance to fill the gaps in the Reebok squad.

They should be fit after completing their domestic season last weekend and they are available on loan for the rest of the season but Allardyce has his reservations about plunging players from South America into a Premiership relegation dogfight.

He said: "They should be training with us next week but I am worried about taking South Americans in January.

"It is a different climate, culture and language and to ask them to go into the fray of a relegation battle and produce their great talent could be asking too much unless I am lucky enough to have got a Maradona which would be nice.

"But the South American market is an interesting one because you can get good players on loan for not a lot of money."