Birmingham manager Alex McLeish believes he needs to add at least two or three players to his squad for next season.
The Blues have already lost the likes of Mikael Forssell, Mauro Zarate, Rafael Schmitz and Richard Kingson from the squad relegated from the Premier League last season.
This has left McLeish with just 20 senior players at his disposal and, with out of contract goalkeeper Maik Taylor interesting Stoke and Coventry, he will not want to be depleted any further.
Add to that the prospect of nine games extra to play at least next season than last term and the Blues boss knows moving into the transfer market is the only way.
He said: “At the moment we have got 20 senior players, so we want to add two or three more to take it up to 23.
“Twenty three is probably a decent squad size if you look at how successful managers worked in the Championship last year in terms of their numbers.
“I realise it’s almost impossible to get 23 world class players at any club unless you are a Manchester United or Arsenal.
“But we would like to have a good nucleus, encourage some of the young players coming through and also look at the possibility of loans.
“There are loads of extra games so we need to make sure the players are extremely fit.
“Of course there will probably be more need for rotation and hence again the fortune of being able to use this loan system.
“It was a godsend for the teams that came up - Stoke and West Brom.
One Comment
I personally think we need a fresh start and if that means sacraficing Ridgewell…Muamba…Kapo…Larsson , so be it.
If they we’ent good enough to keep us up this time what makes us think they will next time around.
We need to generate some cash and the board don’t look like their are going to stump up much money this season.
On the other hand I think the board should everything in their power to keep hold of McFadden , It was Ecks signing and he can build a team around him , quality player!
With the cash generated , we need to sign 3 quality players in each position at the least!
My suggestions and that are realistic are as follows -
Kilgallon(Leeds) - Howard(Barnsley) - Roberts(Blackburn)
All which could be signed for a combined £7mil and possible a AMC/Playmaker if the board has any ambition for Birmingham City FC