Cardiff City boss Mark Hudson eyes January signings after transfer embargo lifted
- Published
Mark Hudson spent five years at Cardiff as a player before returning as a coach
Cardiff City are aiming to make January signings after having their transfer embargo lifted.
The English Football League lifted its embargo after Cardiff paid the first instalment of the £15m fee for Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash en route to joining the club in 2019.
The Championship strugglers can now add to their squad but only with loans and free transfers.
"It's a relief, gives people a lift," said Cardiff manager Mark Hudson.
"We can look forward to what we can look at target-wise and see if we can strengthen.
"We have got targets. I'm not going to talk about players at clubs as I don't think it's fair on them.
"If there is availability and it strengthens us and brings good characters into the building, then we'll try to explore that."
Global governing body Fifa had imposed a separate transfer embargo and, while the conditions for that ban to be lifted are also believed to have been met, Cardiff are still waiting for official clearance before they can make signings.
Fifa had imposed the embargo for three transfers windows following Cardiff's refusal to pay the first instalment of the fee they had agreed with French club Nantes for Argentine striker Sala.
Cardiff had insisted Sala was not officially registered as their player but lost their appeal against the ruling by Fifa at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne in 2022.
Legal discussions are still continuing with the club appealing to a Swiss Federal Court.
Following the CAS ruling, Cardiff received an invoice from Nantes for the first instalment of £5.3m of the fee. This week, Cardiff paid a sum of approximately £7m to meet that demand and to cover interest.
Cardiff are currently two places and two points above the Championship's relegation zone, and they are the lowest scorers in the division with just 20 goals from 26 games.
Asked if signing a striker was a priority, Hudson said: "That's obviously something that's been well-published. We know we need goal threat.
"We did really well against Leeds [in last Sunday's 2-2 FA Cup draw]. We'll continue with that and try to make players better and try to hurt the opposition.
"If there's someone out there we think can come and score goals for us, then we'll have a look at it."
The transfer window closes on Tuesday, 31 January at 23:00 GMT.
Meanwhile, forward Callum Robinson is a major doubt for Saturday's Championship game against Wigan Athletic after a bout of tonsillitis and flu which has seen the Republic of Ireland international lose 6kgs in weight.