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West Bromwich Albion are unlikely to dip too deep into the transfer market in January, that's the view of Richard Garlick.

Baggies boss Tony Pulis is keen to freshen and improve his aging squad during the winter transfer window.

A full-back, or perhaps two, is thought to be a priority alongside a dynamic central midfielder.

But Albion have vary rarely done much business mid-season under the careful watch of Chairman Jeremy Peace .

And Garlick, West Brom's director of football administration, does not expect much activity in the New Year for several reasons.

He said: "Discussions have taken place between Tony and the chairman about where we are financially.

"We spent a lot of money in the summer, have a fully fit squad - all 20 outfield players trained on Monday and the only one who didn't was Ben Foster and he is not far away from coming back.

"January is not a traditional time when we like to do business so I wouldn't expect too much in terms of big financial outlays.

"But there are two or three players who aren't playing in the squad who we could probably do with recycling and it is always good to bring in one or two new faces.

"We are not going to bring in people just for the sake of bringing them in, they have got to be able to improve the squad.

"There are one or two areas Tony has identified he would like to strengthen and if we can do deals we will do them.

"We had a recruitment meeting on Monday discussing options, but I wouldn't expect any significant financial outlay bearing in mind what we did in the summer."

(Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Business, it seems, will only be done if fringe players like Sebastien Pocognoli, Cristian Gamboa and Victor Anichebe can be sold to balance the books.

"That would be our preferable route because we are not going to just add in to what we have got," Garlick said.

"There are one or two players there that have not played and have not featured who you would like to see move out to create gaps for people to come in.

"We have a domestic loan spot available.

"We have done (January) deals in the past like a Darren Fletcher where we have brought someone in on a clever, left-field deal."

Given Albion's position of relative safety in the Premier League, some eight points above the drop zone, the club is loathed to splash more cash, Garlick said.

"With a lot of clubs, if you are spending big in January there is probably something fundamentally wrong with where you are in the league," he added.