Keith Curle makes significant Hartlepool United transfer admission

Hartlepool have already made moves in the January window having brought in the likes of Matt Dolan from Newport County, Peter Hartley following his exit from Indian Super League side Jamshedpur, Dan Dodds from Middlesbrough and Brentford B’s Edon Pruti.

But there remains concerns as to whether the club can match their rivals over potential signings after Gillingham, in particular, have made significant moves in the market this month with the likes of Tom Nichols and Mansfield Town duo Ollie Hawkins and George Lapslie completing moves to the Priestfield.

Speaking after Hartlepool's 2-0 defeat against bottom side Gillingham, where both Nichols and Hawkins starred, Curle addressed whether his side are potentially being left behind in the market this month.

Curle told The Mail: “Would we have been able to compete to get Ollie Hawkins here? Financially, yeah. Would he have come here? No. And that’s not being disrespectful to us or in no way saying he didn’t favour us.

"You hear some of the rumours that are being thrown around about some of the monies that are being offered to players. I still insist that there’s still value players out there - we may have to wait to get the right one.”

And the Pools boss has, again, insisted to The Mail the club can compete with other teams in the division when it comes to finances.

“The important thing is; don’t think myself, Chris, Lee, the chairman, that we start work on January 1 in the January window. Work has been going on beforehand,” said Curle.

“Now we get an opportunity to get closer to getting signatures that we think are going to improve us. But we understand as well that it’s a waiting game because other people come into the fray.

“Other people might have had a game on a Saturday where we can agree a deal in principle with a player and the players agent and the football club and when everything is going in the right direction another team gets an injury and finds out about his availability.

“It might be closer to home, they might be paying him more money, it might be a higher division and it creates an interest. Then out of respect you have to let people go and speak to other people and you have to wait for that person to make their decision.

“The conversations I have with players about coming here, if money is the first thing that comes out in a conversation by either the player or the agent then the likelihood is that player is not the person that I need.

“We can compete financially, we won’t get outbid for any player in the second division, but part of my remit is getting value for money for the chairman to improve us which means there is more to it than just paying more to somebody than somebody else to get them to come to the football club.”