Espanyol boss Diego Martinez admits there are 'needs to be covered' in January

The Spanish side are teetering on the brink of the relegation zone, as they sit only a single point above the bottom three of Sevilla, Cadiz, and Elche.

Martinez's charges haven't won a league game in their last five attempts, but he is optimistic they will bring in the necessary players to fill the gaps and help revitalise Espanyol ahead of the second half of the campaign.

"All of us at the club are clear that there are needs to be covered," said Martinez, according to Football Espana.

"We have already dragged those needs on from the summer market, and also in the games we have identified the needs and what we must improve...

"Hopefully they can come as soon as possible because we need them, not only in quantity but in quality to help in this stretch of the second round, which is so difficult. We know it's a complicated market, but we need it.

"We are all aligned as to what we need and we have already done a deep analysis after the last official match. We are all aligned and we are clear about what we need.

"We all agree that there are minimum needs that we need to cover to compete, we are optimistic about what is to come."

Espanyol resume their La Liga campaign on 31 December against league leaders Barcelona.