West Brom owner Guochuan Lai tells head coach Alan Pardew there is no big pool of cash for January

The Baggies do have enough to fund one or two low-cost permanent signings, but Pardew will need to sell players first if he wants to bring in any new faces for around £20million.

The head coach is prioritising attackers in his first transfer window at the club after watching his new side score just one goal in his four games in charge.

He met Lai for the first time last weekend ahead of the Manchester United defeat and asked him what his budget was next month.

“I think we’re clear for January and slightly unclear for the summer because we need to see what happens with the team and certain individuals before we start developing in the summer," said Pardew.

“I think it’s fair to say we haven’t got a big pool of money to suddenly go out and buy ourselves a player for £20m (in January).

“But we’ve got money in the kitty to talk about a loan player if we think we need it or a signing if we think we need it that’s not in that region of money."

Pardew will target the loan market because Albion still have both spots for temporary acquisitions from English clubs free, and they can also bring another overseas player in on loan after signing Ahmed Hegazi permanently.

Albion's boss is interested in Danny Ings, who will be available on loan from Liverpool, but faces competition from several other Premier League clubs.

The Baggies have dropped into the bottom three since Pardew took over, but he reckons that could be the reality check his players need.

And he's confident there's enough quality in the squad to lift Albion clear of trouble.

"It's a strange thing to say but going in the bottom three, when you've been hovering around it, is not such a bad thing," said Pardew.

"It gives a little bit of a reality check to everybody and I've encouraged the players this week not to hide from it.

"It's not like we have tried to bury our heads in the sand, face the reality of it and let's get out of it - and stay out of it.

"It's important we get some distance from us and the bottom three. At the moment we're at the first stage of it.

"You look at the bottom ten teams and they are all reachable for us in my opinion, but when you go four months without a victory suddenly you think 'well how is this logical'?" What makes the manager think that's going to happen?

"But I've seen enough in the games I've been at, and on the pitch, plus players returning from injury, that I think we can do that. I'm not being unrealistic."