Curbishley says Valley cash claims are a bit rich

Alan Curbishley today dismissed speculation that he will have £16million available to spend on strengthening his squad during the summer.

Reports this week suggested that the Charlton manager will be spending freely during the close season, but today he said: "I will have more at my disposal than some managers in the Premiership but it's not going to be as much as £16m."

Curbishley will be given the £11m transfer fee from the sale of Scott Parker to Chelsea plus more, but he pointed out: "You have to take wages into account as well as transfer fees.

"For the moment, though, nothing has been decided. We're still trying to concentrate on these last eight games of the season."

Curbishley admits that Charlton's disappointing recent form on the back of a crop of debilitating injuries is a mirror image of last season.

"The same thing happened then at exactly the same time," he said.

"Even the injury situation is similar to, if not more severe than, last season.

"At the moment I'm really struggling to field two fit central defenders against Portsmouth. I've lost Richard Rufus, Gary Rowett, Mark Fish and Hermann Hreidarsson to injuries and now Chris Perry has damaged a toe in training. "I'm just hoping he will be okay to play against Portsmouth on Saturday, while Hreidarsson also has a chance of coming back." Charlton will also be without Graham Stuart, Jason Euell and Kevin Lisbie for what Curbishley anticipates will be a tough match against their relegationthreatened opponents.