Sam Allardyce hopes to add at least three players to his Crystal Palace squad in next month’s transfer window, though his chances of being reunited with the former Sunderland midfielder Yann M’Vila appear to have been scuppered.

The France international, who featured in all but one of the Wearside club’s Premier League matches last season after joining on loan from Rubin Kazan, has signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract at the Russian club. An existing pre-contract agreement to move to Sunderland in January, negotiated in the autumn after the English club balked at Rubin’s £8.5m valuation, was ripped up this month with the 26-year-old having apparently been convinced to remain in Russia.

Allardyce, who replaced Alan Pardew at Palace last week, is intent on adding more physical presence to his squad in central midfield and at centre-half, and M’Vila was one option. Hull’s Tom Huddlestone, who is contracted until 2018, may be another. Palace are also one of a number of English clubs who have been contacted by Joleon Lescott’s representatives over a route back into the game following the cancellation of his contract at AEK Athens in November, though the 34-year-old is unlikely to be a player they pursue.

There is urgency, too, to add a left-back with Pape Souaré having returned to his native Senegal to continue his rehabilitation from a badly broken leg. Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs would be the new Palace manager’s preference, though prising him away from the Emirates Stadium will be difficult. Leeds’ Charlie Taylor and Sunderland’s Patrick van Aanholt are also under serious consideration.

Palace’s hierarchy made clear to Allardyce in negotiations over his arrival on a contract through to 2019 that he would be able to enter the market mid-season as they seek to move clear of the relegation zone. The Boxing Day draw at Watford in the manager’s first game edged the south London club two points clear of the cut-off, but they face a daunting trip to Arsenal on New Year’s Day. Gibbs should be fit for that fixture despite suffering a kick to a knee in the victory over West Bromwich Albion.

Allardyce has already made clear a desire to be active in January, as well as to deflect any interest in his own team’s players. Tottenham are expected to test Palace’s resolve to retain Wilfried Zaha – they had bids, initially for a derisory £12m, rejected over the summer – but will meet the same level of resistance. Zaha, capped twice by England in friendlies during Roy Hodgson’s tenure, is due to speak with Allardyce this week to discuss his potential involvement in next month’s Africa Cup of Nations having applied to Fifa to represent Ivory Coast, the country of his birth.

“You’re never satisfied, are you,” said Allardyce when asked if he aspired to add to his squad in January. “You can’t be a manager and be satisfied when there’s a window coming up. It all depends upon what the others do, what’s available, what you can afford, who wants to come. And you’ve got to try and hope nobody comes in for any of your players. That can be even more concerning, if one of your players is wanted by another club, a bigger club.”