AC Milan coach Gattuso looking at frugal January

Gennaro Gattuso PHOTO:AFP

AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said on Friday that the under-pressure club were looking at a frugal January transfer window after their summer spending spree failed to turn their ailing fortunes around.

"No player has asked to leave, the owners know that I'm okay," said Gattuso on the eve of Saturday's Serie A game against Crotone before the two-week winter break in Italy.

"The best gift would be not to lose players to injuries, I don't expect anything except to put my players in the best physical and mental condition."

Milan have fallen foul of UEFA's financial fair play regulations, with questions about the stability of the Chinese-led consortium that purchased the club from Silvio Berlusconi for 740 million euros in April.

Milan took a loan from US private equity fund Elliott worth more than 300 million euros.

New owner Li Yonghong then funded a 230-million-euro spending spree last summer but it has failed to produce immediate results.

Milan have slipped to 11th in the Italian league, 23 points behind leaders Napoli and some way back from the European aspirations of their new owners.

"The transfer window can't be a distraction," continued Gattuso who took over from Vincenzo Montella in November.

"We don't need to sign anyone because we have really good players and I want to work with these boys."