AFC Wimbledon look at options abroad as they cast net wide for January transfer targets

Neal Ardley has cast his transfer net abroad as AFC Wimbledon get ready for the January window.

The Dons are expected to make a striker their top signing priority next month.

Ardley said: “We have done a lot of due-diligence. There are already potential targets – some in this country and some abroad, because we have to be a little creative.

“The problem in the January window is it is very hard to do good business and it can change every week. A target you can have now can suddenly be one that is never going to happen three weeks down the line. Things change from week to week.

“But we are on it and ready to try and strike but it is never that easy.”

Reise Allassani has been catching the eye for Dulwich Hamlet but the former Crystal Palace man does not fit with the Dons’ strategy for the mid-season option to add to their squad.

“In January you are looking for someone that is instant – can come in and make a big difference,” explained Ardley. “In the summer you can build a squad and incorporate players. If they don’t hit the ground running you have time to work with them. January is different.

“We haven’t really got the funds to be looking at more than one coming in. It is not going to be a big turnover. We need to get it right and find someone to make a difference in the next four or five months.”

Wimbledon never make the contract lengths of their players public – chief executive Erik Samuleson explaining previously that the logic is not making it easy for rival clubs to know an individual’s situation.

“I never expect to lose anybody because normally I get the say on it,” said Ardley. “Players are coming out of contract in the summer. If things did develop and we got offers we couldn’t refuse then we might have to adapt to it.

“There has been no contact with me though and I’m quite happy about that.”