Troy Deeney wants new faces to ease the burden on the depleted Walsall squad and fire up the current players.

Manager Jimmy Mullen has kept his transfer targets close to his chest, but the Saddlers desperately need reinforcements with the squad perilously thin.

Deeney, who travelled to Carlisle with the side on Saturday, only to see the game postponed due to a frozen pitch, would welcome new players.

He said: “You can only benefit from new players – there are no downsides to having new players. Hopefully someone can come in and we can see where we go from there. We have a really small squad, so anyone who comes in would be great. It is more of a challenge if anybody comes in.”

Deeney would also relish additional striking competition, believing he would only benefit from the new players. He added: “Last year I had Tommy Mooney and this year I have Michael Ricketts so you can always learn.”

If Mullen did add to his strikeforce it would add more pressure on Deeney, who has only scored twice this year, after playing most of the season on the right wing. The 20-year-old admits he needs to find the net more regularly