Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray will use the loan window to bring in players if he can not get in any of his targets before the transfer window closes on Tuesday at 6pm.
“The way we play you think of four attacking players,” Mowbray said to the Coventry Telegraph, “and if you’re going to do that you need more than five or six. In an ideal world you’ve got seven or eight you like and you rotate them around so they perhaps play three on the bounce and then get a breather.
“We’re always looking for that type of footballer who has the technical skills to play where we want him to play
“You’re going to get some wrong along the way because you don’t have them on your training pitch for two weeks to have a look at everything they can do.
“Sometimes you get disappointed – you get them in the building off a reputation or a recommendation and they’re not quite what you expect.
“But they’re out there – we found Ruben Lameiras who plays attractive football in tight areas – so you just have to look harder, wait for the right ones to come along, the ones that fit the jigsaw puzzle.
“We’ve talked about some physicality up front and some defensive cover and with Jordan Willis out at the moment it leaves us potentially with one right back.
“Aaron Phillips is a young guy but he’s played quite a bit in the first team and Sam Ricketts can play at either full-back role with Aaron Martin covering in the middle but we’d like a little bit more cover in that part of the pitch as well.
“Managers want players all over but we try to manage the budget, get the most we can for the money we’ve got.”
“It’s different,” he admitted, “basically because of the quality of players you’re looking for.
“You get more consistency of performance when you spend more money on your footballers – not better individual technique at any given moment but better consistency over 40-odd games.
“As long as James Maddison develops a strong mentality that can produce his highest performance week-in week-out, he’ll go and play at whatever level he wants. If he only produces a good performance every ten games he’ll probably stay where he is.
“That’s how you gauge it. Every footballer has got talent, or speed or strength. You’re looking for that consistency and generally the more consistent they are the more they can earn.
“I probably get 20 players a day thrown at me and some of them look quite tempting; you think ‘he’d be really good for us.’
“But you inquire further and the salary is five times what we can pay so you have a little shout at the agent and say ‘why are you trying to give him to me – you know where we are, you should know what first division clubs can pay, why would you be offering me a ten grand a week footballer?
“Those scenarios crop up all the time but we’ll keep looking and try to add the right ones when they come along. And if we can’t do that in this window, we don’t have to wait too long for the loan window to open.”
“We’re always looking for that type of footballer who has the technical skills to play where we want him to play
“You’re going to get some wrong along the way because you don’t have them on your training pitch for two weeks to have a look at everything they can do.
“Sometimes you get disappointed – you get them in the building off a reputation or a recommendation and they’re not quite what you expect.
“But they’re out there – we found Ruben Lameiras who plays attractive football in tight areas – so you just have to look harder, wait for the right ones to come along, the ones that fit the jigsaw puzzle.
“We’ve talked about some physicality up front and some defensive cover and with Jordan Willis out at the moment it leaves us potentially with one right back.
“Aaron Phillips is a young guy but he’s played quite a bit in the first team and Sam Ricketts can play at either full-back role with Aaron Martin covering in the middle but we’d like a little bit more cover in that part of the pitch as well.
“Managers want players all over but we try to manage the budget, get the most we can for the money we’ve got.”
“It’s different,” he admitted, “basically because of the quality of players you’re looking for.
“You get more consistency of performance when you spend more money on your footballers – not better individual technique at any given moment but better consistency over 40-odd games.
“As long as James Maddison develops a strong mentality that can produce his highest performance week-in week-out, he’ll go and play at whatever level he wants. If he only produces a good performance every ten games he’ll probably stay where he is.
“That’s how you gauge it. Every footballer has got talent, or speed or strength. You’re looking for that consistency and generally the more consistent they are the more they can earn.
“I probably get 20 players a day thrown at me and some of them look quite tempting; you think ‘he’d be really good for us.’
“But you inquire further and the salary is five times what we can pay so you have a little shout at the agent and say ‘why are you trying to give him to me – you know where we are, you should know what first division clubs can pay, why would you be offering me a ten grand a week footballer?
“Those scenarios crop up all the time but we’ll keep looking and try to add the right ones when they come along. And if we can’t do that in this window, we don’t have to wait too long for the loan window to open.”