PAUL Lambert is ready to ‘shake up’ his Blackburn Rovers squad with New Year signings.

But the Rovers boss believes it will not be until the summer that the club feels the ‘massive’ benefit of being out of a Financial Fair Play embargo.

Cost savings, summer player sales and the decision of owners Venky’s to write off £3m in loans means Lambert will not be under the same restrictions as his predecessor Gary Bowyer.

However the Scot admits with the club keen to avoid going straight back into the embargo he will be doing his business in the loan market.

But that has not stopped him starting negotiations with Premier League and Championship clubs – some of which have been unsuccessful and some of which are ongoing – in an effort to strengthen his squad.

“We’ve tried a number of things before the window was open and spoken to a lot of people,” said Lambert, whose side kick-off 2016 with a trip to Cardiff City today (3pm).

“The problem we’ve got is we can’t buy. We can only work the loan market.

“But I think it’s important everybody realises to come out of the embargo was a massive, massive thing for this club. It cannot be underestimated, so from that point of view a big thanks to the owners and everybody who worked behind the scenes.

“The problem you get with loans is that you don’t get everybody’s top players, so you’ve got to be careful you don’t spend for the sake of spending money on people who are not going to play. That’s the thing we’ve got to watch.

“Where you might get the benefit is the summer transfer window. This window we’ve still got to be a little bit careful with what we’re doing because we don’t want to go back in the embargo.

“We’d love to go out and spend, but we can’t, but the big picture is the club is out of the embargo.

“We will try to get one or two loans if we can – and we have to try to do that because we definitely need to shake it up.”

Former Norwich City and Aston Villa boss Lambert, who is looking at players he has worked with before, added: “There are a few areas of the pitch that we need to strengthen.

“There are guys that I’ve spoken to and clubs that I’ve spoken to and some want to wait until the end of January, and by that time four or five games have gone, some say middle of January, some people say it’s feasible, some say the wages are too high, so there are all these hurdles you have to try and get over.

“The January market is a difficult market but it was important to get out of the embargo as it gives us the chance to build in the coming months and years.”

Lambert is looking to add more creativity and know-how to his forward line.

But, apart from cover and competition for Adam Henley at right-back, he is satisfied with the options he has at the back.

“We’re strong there,” said Lambert who, unless the ‘phone rings’, won’t ‘be looking to push anybody out’ of the club.

“Adam Henley is only a kid and you’re asking him to go every single week. There’s no competition there, other than Ben (Marshall).

“Markus (Olsson) and Tommy (Spurr) are competing at left-back, then we’ve got Matt (Kilgallon) and Doneil (Henry) competing at centre-back with Grant (Hanley) and (Shane) Duffy, who have been excellent. 

“Matt has trained ever so well, like Lee Williamson, and he can count himself unfortunate.”