Wanderers are about to go continental again to shore up their shaky squad before Thursday's transfer deadline.

Colin Todd has turned to former Atletico Madrid midfielder Francesco Pirri after being frustrated by events on and off the field as he tries to steer his team back on promotion course.

The 27-year-old Spaniard, who now plays for Merida, trained with Wanderers today and is expected to sign on loan until the end of the season.

"I'm hopeful that a deal can be concIuded," the Reebok boss confirmed.

As was exclusively revealed in Saturday's BEN, Todd is also understood to be ready to sign Blackpool's highly-rated goalkeeper Steve Banks.

Although neither club was prepared to confirm that a deal was in the offing today, Wanderers have been tracking the 27-year-old Londoner for some time while Seasiders' manager Nigel Worthington has been looking for cover in anticipation of losing his No 1 keeper before the deadline.

Banks, who saw a £250,000 transfer to Celtic collapse earlier this season, is out of contract this summer and Blackpool could lose him for nothing.

Todd is in the market for a keeper after seeing Jussi Jaaskelainen concede 16 goals in the last six games. Keith Branagan is still considered short of match fitness after playing only four first team games of an injury-plagued season and Iceland international Birkir Kristinsson's current contract has less than a month to run.

Pirri could finally be the man to end Wanderers' long and so far fruitless search for midfield cover. He has had a trial with Hearts but the Edinburgh club could not afford to secure a deal.

The Spaniard was at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, where he saw his prospective new team-mates lose 3-1 to the Champions elect.

The game saw Peter Reid's runaway leaders mathematically guarantee their play-off place and left Wanderers worried that they might lose theirs after looking red-hot promotion favourites just a month ago.

Todd was severely critical of his players' lack of passion and spoke of a shake-up when he said: "I've shown faith in them and tried to give them a chance to get back on an even keel but now I'll have to look at changes. I'm looking for steel now."

Agreeing that the team is in danger of slipping out of play-off contention unless they can stop the slide that has brought them just one win in seven games, the manager said: "The only way we can get out of it is by grafting. It's not a question of fitness, it's about big hearts now. We have a points cushion but that can soon evaporate if things don't improve.

"You can have all the ability in the world but if you ain't prepared to sweat and die for each other, it becomes more difficult and that's what's happening at the moment.

"We don't play again for two weeks so it gives us plenty of time to mull things over and see what's the best 11."

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