West Ham chief Scott Duxbury has told manager Gianfranco Zola his transfer budget will not be affected by their £30 million compo bill owed to Sheffield United.
Zola said: "It is a club matter but I have been assured that it won't change or influence things in January.
"That's the kind of assurance I wanted. It wasn't from our chairman - it was from our chief executive Scott Duxbury."