KEITH Curle is hopeful of further boosting his Hartlepool United squad before next Tuesday's transfer deadline - but former Sunderland forward Chris Maguire won't be joining the club.

Maguire was this week cleared to return to football after serving a backdated ban for breaching betting rules. He joined Pools earlier in the season but never played a game due to the investigation that was ongoing at the time.

He left Pools and at the time Curle said the deal could be revisited when the issue was resolved - but has now confirmed Maguire won't be returning to the Suit Direct Stadium.

“No. I spoke to his agent about three weeks ago, he informed me about his court case but I told him no,” Curle told the Hartlepool Mail.

“I like him as a player, I like him as a person. But he’s not what we need as a footballer right now.”

Curle, though, does want new faces in to help in the League Two survival scrap. Pools went down 3-1 at Carlisle on Tuesday night and ahead of Saturday's crunch visit of Colchester - who are just five points above them - Curle has warned that there'll be plenty of twists and turns to come in the battle to stay up.

"We need to start winning games to get us where we want to be," he told BBC Tees.

"I understand the work that's needed, I understand the frustrations and anxieties and stresses, there will be twists and turns, it's one of them - buckle up, chaps."

On his transfer hopes, Curle added: "I spoke to a couple of players today. We're shopping in the right places but the people we're speaking to have other options, other options that might not see them starting.  It might mean they're going in as cover, but then they might be going to clubs that are operating higher up than we are and that might scare players off, but if they get scared it means they're not for me.

"There is some talent out there that is relatively uncovered. It might not necessarily be a household name, it might be someone we've identified or seen that I think is missing from the team.

"Don't wait for household names that everyone knows and who has a reputation and has scored 200 goals. How did you get him? Because we paid him four times what he's worth. That isn't going to happen, it's not how I work."