SLADE ALL SET FOR RECORD SIGNING

VINCENT TAN has told Cardiff City manager Russell Slade he can make the biggest signing of his career.

The Bluebirds’ debt stands at a staggering £120m.

And the club’s controversial owner Tan has slammed many of the signings made by Slade’s predecessors Malky Mackay and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

But he has been impressed at how Slade has rescued a sinking ship and heaved Cardiff back into Championship playoff contention.

Now Tan is ready to loosen the purse strings in January.

Slade said: “The budget is limited but I’ve been told that if the price is right then we can do deals. It helps that we are climbing the table.

“We are looking at areas to strengthen but there has to be a balance. The biggest thing is looking at the amount of players we must off-load. There’s a lot of wastage here.”

Slade’s previous record signing was £250,000 paid to Wolverhampton for winger Elliott Bennett while in charge at Brighton in 2009. Now he joins a club who have spent close to £50m in the last 18 months. The former Leyton Orient boss said: “My biggest signing before was a couple of hundred thousand at Brighton but we sold him (Bennett) for £1.2m, so the chairman was happy.

“Making a bigmoney signing won’t worry me.”

Slade, meanwhile, has ruled out a move for Celtic’s Anthony Stokes after the Scottish club’s manager Ronny Deila insisted the striker remained part of his plans.

“It’s that time of year and you’re going to get linked with players up and down the country,” said Slade.“If we can add a couple in the transfer window, things will be a lot better. But there’s nothing in that one.

“We’re going in the right direction, but there’s a lot of improvement still to come from the group we’ve got.”

Slade is expected to have Jo Inge Berget back in January after failing to make an impact on loan at Parkhead. Javi Guerra, Mats Moler Daehli and Magnus Wolff Eikrem are all set for the exit in the New Year.