July 7 2004

Iain Dowie

Iain Dowie is confident of making several new signings before the big kick off on August 14, as he looks to build a squad of 22 senior players for the Premiership, by Joseph O'Shea.

The 39-year-old Palace boss will make Julian Speroni his first summer signing this week, and is convinced that Palace's feverish work in the transfer market will soon bear fruit.

Several bids have already been tabled but Palace will not go public until the deal is concluded either way for fear of inflating their targets' value.

Dowie said: "You won't see me linking us with anyone. It will be done quietly and we will get the right people in. If other teams release that we have made bids that's down to them."

Palace's bid for Speroni was one such move made public by the selling club, but

Dowie also confirmed he had made a bid of under £2million for Sunderland's Kevin Kyle and inquired about Crewe's Dean Ashton.

He said: "They turned down a bid (for Kyle) so that's the way it is. I made an inquiry about Dean, but Dario (Gradi) said he didn't want to sell and he would want silly money, which I would not pay."

Dowie is now thought to be chasing Hungarian international striker Sandor Torghelle, who is in the final year of his contract with MTK Budapest. The 22-year-old scored both goals in his country's 2-0 win over Germany, and Palace are thought to be leading the race to sign him after club representatives flew to Budapest last week.

But Dowie is keen to stress that signing another striker will not mean selling captain Neil Shipperley or Dougie Freedman who have been linked with Division One clubs.

He said: "I don't know where that comes from. I have got Neil, Andy Johnson and Dougie, three forwards so why would I want anyone out. If I wanted to get rid of any of them, the first to know would be them."

It seems Dowie will stick by his promotion side, but after releasing Jamie Smith and Curtis Fleming, and losing Julian Gray to Birmingham, he now only has 15 senior players.

He added: "I would want 22 or 23 and maybe three or four kids.

"Don't run before you can walk. You can't try and buy a team in that's going to take you into Europe in one hit, because one, you'll bankrupt the club, two, you'll never do it and three, you'll have difficulty because people won't adapt. It's got to be gradual."

Out of contract stars Aki Riihilahti and Tony Popovic have both signed new two year deals, and Michael Hughes is expcted to follow suit in the near future.

Palace are being linked with a £500,000 move for Leicester striker Jamie Scowcroft, Leeds' Norwegian midfielder Erik Bakke, 26, and Perugia's former Coventry forward Jay Bothroyd, 22.

A left winger remains a priority after Julian Gray's departure, and Dowie may also rekindle a £1million deal to bring Fulham defender Mark Hudson to Selhurst Park on a permanent basis.