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Martinez hopeful of finalising Traore deal

The Merseyside club were granted a work permit for the Ivory Coast international on Tuesday ahead of a proposed loan move for the rest of the season.

However, Monaco's record signing Radamel Falcao sustained what could be a serious knee injury on Wednesday, and reports on Thursday claimed the Ligue 1 club could decide to keep Traore if the Colombian is ruled out for a significant amount of time.

"We're still working on it, there is nothing to announce as yet. The work permit was successful, there a few other issues to get through but there is nothing to announce," he said.

When asked if Falcao's injury could scupper the deal, the Spaniard added: "We hope that's not something that should affect the decision to allow Lacina to go out on loan.

"At the moment the deal is not complete, so it's difficult for me to comment but it's something we should find out quite quickly in the next few hours."

He said: "That will probably be it, the main two targets was a striker and Aiden McGeady (who signed from Spartak Moscow on January 11) ."