.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
Fulham manager Martin Jol has reiterated his plea for Brede Hangeland to sign a new contract and has called on his captain to 'put the money where his mouth is'.
Hangeland is out of contract at the end of the season and the 31-year-old has been linked with a move to Fulham's local rivals Queens Park Rangers.
The Norwegian defender has made over 220 appearances since joining Fulham from FC Copenhagen five years ago and Jol hopes the signings of the likes of Dimitar Berbatov will have convinced Hangeland of the club's ambition.
"We will try to do everything that we are capable of to keep him," said Jol. "There is a contract and the only thing for him to do is sign it.
"Players like Brede, if they have a decent history and are playing well for their clubs, then there will always be an interest.
"I thought he was quite happy to stay here. Of course, he wanted to know the mission of the club, who is coming in because there were quite a lot of players going out.
"Then Dimitar Berbatov, Mladen Petric and Hugo Rodallega came in and he was quite happy, but now it is three months on.
"There is still five months left and hopefully he will put the money where his mouth is, show everyone he is happy again and sign the contract."
Laudrup has made no secret of his desire to bring in some new faces to try and maintain Swansea's impressive start to the season, which has seen them climb into the top half of the Barclays Premier League and reach the last four of the Capital One Cup.
Real Betis midfielder Jose Canas, Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas and Stoke forward Kenwyne Jones are all on the Dane's wanted list.
Betis are thought to be holding our for a fee of around ?1million for Canas, who is out of contract in the summer, while Aspas is understood to have an ?8million buy-out clause.
Stoke are also reported to be keen to recoup as much of the ?8million they paid for Jones if they are to allow him to leave the Britannia Stadium.
But Laudrup says he will be happy to wait until the summer to complete any deals, rather than pay over his own valuation now.
He said: "From the end of this month, we will be only playing at weekends, although obviously I hope there will be one midweek game because that will mean we are in the Capital One Cup final.
"But it means we don't need a player at the end of January. It might be that we just say we can wait until the summer.
"We don't need desperately for someone to come in on January 31 because from that date we will only be playing weekends.
"It is possible something can happen but I will not be the one who is saying we have to get somebody in with only two days left.
"We have some plans but if they don't come now they will wait until the summer."
Following their stunning Capital One Cup semi-final first-leg success at Chelsea in midweek, Swansea return to Premier League action at Everton on Saturday.
The Toffees triumphed 3-0 when the sides met at the Liberty Stadium in September, and Laudrup is keen for his side to make amends at Goodison Park.
"The first 30 minutes was very bad against Everton," he said.
"I remember I said to the players, 'don't give away any fouls' because with free-kicks they have (Marouane) Fellaini and (Leighton) Baines, but we gave them seven in the first 12 minutes. I will give the players the same message this time.
"We know what Everton will do. They will put us under pressure from the beginning.
"We have to find a motivating factor for every game and the motivation for the players who played in the home game is not to repeat that first half hour.
"If we do that then we will lose the game and we don't want to lose."
Torres was hailed as the club's saviour when he arrived at Stamford Bridge two years ago for a whopping ?50million fee, but he has struggled to live up to even the most mild expectations.
Part of the reason behind Benitez's appointment as Blues interim boss was to get the striker back to his best, but despite a slight improvement, Torres still looks a shadow of the hitman who tore the best defences in Europe apart while at Anfield.
Chelsea's fans had been patient with Torres up until Wednesday night, when he was sarcastically applauded off after 81 minutes following a poor display in which he touched the ball just 19 times and barely threatened the Swansea goal.
Benitez, who revealed illness had prompted Torres' poor performance, still thinks the former Atletico Madrid hitman can win the Blues faithful round, though.
"The fans loved Torres when he was scoring and giving everything," Benitez told a press conference.
"They will love him again when he starts scoring goals again. They will appreciate the effort."
Chelsea's supporters had called for the introduction of Ba, who scored twice on debut at Southampton last Saturday, for almost the entire second half on Wednesday, but he did not come on until nine minutes were left.
Benitez revealed on Friday he had delayed bringing Ba on as he was struggling with a hamstring injury. The Spaniard also confirmed Torres had been struggling with a stomach bug prior to kick-off, which explains his poor showing against the Swans.
"He (Torres) had a bug, a virus and needed tablets from the club doctor," Benitez said. "The other day he was sick on the bench (at Southampton). That was why he didn't play.
"He is feeling better now but he had the problem for a week or more. He was trying (against Swansea).
"He was there and making an effort just in case. Fernando concentrated on trying to do his job (despite his illness) and that is the sign of a great character."
But Lambert concedes he does not have the ?6million paid to Celtic for Petrov's signature six years ago to bring in any potential replacement and will have to "box clever" in the transfer window.
Petrov is currently in remission as he battles to overcome the illness which first became public nine months ago.
Lambert knows making a recovery health-wise is the priority for his former team-mate and close friend from their time together at Parkhead.
But he acknowledges how Villa have missed the presence in midfield of Petrov.
Lambert said: "You know something, I was with Stiliyan last night. The loss of him to this club has been more than people can imagine.
"The loss of him has been huge. His health is the most important thing. I was with him for a few hours last night, and that puts everything in perspective, hearing what he was saying.
"He's a top character. Even when he comes in here now, he's full of energy. He's a major loss to this club, major.
"We need those type of people in the dressing room. Whether young or not, you take that responsibility on yourself and you have to be loud in there."
When asked if he now has the kind of money to spend on a player that Petrov cost Villa, Lambert said: "It's probably fair say we've not got that.
"That type of player costs money so you have to box clever.
"A lot of things get dominated by finance. Petrov cost ?6million and the value of him to this club was incredible, the way he performed and the way he is as a guy.
"I know him because I played with him for eight years at Celtic so I know what type of a young guy he was."
Lambert added: "We need some strength in the side, especially in the middle of the pitch (midfield and defence), we need a bit of strength.
"The injuries we've had to people like Ron Vlaar have been too long. Richard Dunne has been out as well all season. We need to try and address that.
"We're trying to do something at this minute. We need to try and do something in this window. We have to try."
Villa owner Randy Lerner has continually offered financial support to a string of managers and two years ago spent a club record ?24 million on Darren Bent to stave off the threat of relegation.
But Lambert concedes that fans are in dreamland when expecting a player of the quality of Joleon Lescott or Scott Parker to be signed because of the finance that would be involved.
"Are fans in dreamland (regarding Lescott and Parker)? Yes, money, I think that's the reality of it. We can't do it."
One option would be for Lambert to off-load any players he thinks are surplus to his requirements.
But he said: "You can't do nothing if the phone doesn't go. It's not something where you pick up the phone to someone and say he's for sale or he's for sale.
"You don't do that. If a phone call comes in, then you deal with it."
Meanwhile, Lambert confirmed that winger Marc Albrighton could be out of action for up to two months with the broken metatarsal suffered against Ipswich in last weekend's FA Cup tie.
He said: "Marc has broken his metatarsal. It could be another eight weeks or so that he is out."
