• Manager still hopes for deal with midfielder Momo Sissoko
• ‘It’s difficult to say whether we’ll sign anyone,’ says Pulis

Tony Pulis has admitted his disappointment at Crystal Palace’s inability to add to their squad in the transfer window but the club still hope to appease their manager by securing reinforcements this week to bolster their quest for survival.

Palace have enjoyed an eye-catching upturn in fortunes since Pulis’s appointment and a team that had been bottom and forlorn go into Tuesday’s visit of Hull City sitting 16th in the table, two points clear of the relegation zone and only four points off 10th place. Yet the manager has been at pains to stress in talks with the club’s hierarchy that additions must be made this month if, realistically, they are to stay in the top flight for next season.

Pulis still hopes to strike a deal with the former Liverpool and Juventus midfielder Momo Sissoko, who is a free agent having left Paris Saint-Germain last summer, despite West Ham having expressed an interest in a player who spent much of last week training at Palace. There are hopes, too, that Iván Ramis can be brought in from Wigan despite the player having failed a medical at Cardiff City. Palace believe he can play a role even though the Welsh club were put off by a previous cruciate ligament injury suffered by the Spaniard.

There is interest from the manager in Scott Dann and Leon Best at Blackburn, the Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey and Brighton’s winger Will Buckley but Pulis is frustrated that there are as yet no signings. “There are going to be people who say: ‘Is [the reason we have not strengthened] because we have done so well?’” he said. “We have pulled out of the bottom three, after all. We will have to wait and see.

“But there are four days left to go and we are desperate to bring players in and we are disappointed. We have had the targets and we haven’t been able to get them over the line. We will keep trying. It is very difficult to say whether we’ll sign anyone: the important thing is we get our heads down and try and get a few in. We will see in the next week what we do and what we come up with.”

There is a realisation that Palace’s recent upturn in form – they have won five of the 11 Premier League games since Pulis was confirmed as Ian Holloway’s replacement in November – has offered an opportunity which cannot be passed up. The club can point to bitter experience after being relegated in 2004-05, on their last stay among the elite, having failed to add to their squad in the mid-season window. They come up against a Hull team on Tuesday who have spent £13.5m alone on Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic this month.

“The lads have been smashing since I’ve come in,” said Pulis. “The attitude and commitment of the players has been wonderful but we do need to improve and we do need to strengthen the squad. There are areas we have tried to improve but we have just fallen down on one or two deals.

“It doesn’t mean we won’t end up signing a few but, as I said, I was hoping to do it earlier in the window because it takes time for them to come in and gel and the biggest thing for us is to get the results as quick as we can.”

• Crystal Palace
• Tony Pulis
• Transfer window

Dominic Fifield

theguardian.com