'We have to adapt' - Mat Sadler speaks out on triple Walsall loan recall
Mat Sadler insists Walsall accept the "nature of the loan market" and have had to "adapt" to changing circumstances in January.
His comments come after Jid Okeke, Ryan Finnigan and Dan Cox were recalled from their loan spells on Monday.
Cox had his loan spell cut short by Derby County after struggling for minutes, but Finnigan and Okeke both featured prominently for Walsall in the first half of the season.
Goalkeeper Myles Roberts, midfielder Rico Richards and top scorer Daniel Kanu, who has hit double figures in League Two, still remain on loan with the club.
Walsall responded to Finnigan's exit by replacing him with Alex Pattison, who arrived from Bradford City for an undisclosed fee on Tuesday evening.
Sadler makes Walsall loan recall point
And Sadler claimed that concerns over recalls are highlighted more at Walsall due to their strong track record on the loan market in recent times.
"Unfortunately, that's part of it. We have to accept it and I certainly don't moan about it because you just have to get on with it," Sadler said.
"It's not only like that for our football club, but it's probably highlighted at Walsall because of the success we've had with loans.
"We've had to be on our toes to try and replace that and it's possibly slightly different to what we potentially wanted to manoeuvre within this window.
"But we needed to adapt and make sure that we mitigated Ryan leaving. He did fantastically well for us and there were no surprises [when he was recalled] because of how well he did.
"It's the nature of it, but within that spell, there are lots of other players who've been recalled by other clubs. It's just the nature of the loan window unfortunately."
Walsall looking to strengthen
There have been calls from the fan base for Walsall to add attacking reinforcements and Sadler has stressed that the club will continue searching for ways to strengthen before the end of the window.
"You want to go into every January feeling like you've strengthened. Whether you have or not becomes evident at the start of May," he added.
"It's always our intention to do that. I certainly won't be stockpiling players, but I'll be making sure that the squad is strong and deep enough to then go on."
