Nigel Pearson reveals the priority will remain signing a central defender in the transfer market despite conceding Matty James will miss up to three weeks of action with a calf injury.
The midfielder was injured in the warm-up ahead of kick-off against Sunderland with Han-Noah Massengo coming on to replace him. His absence only emphasised the lack of squad depth in central midfield particularly ahead of Wednesday's match with Coventry.
Joe Williams will sit out with Pearson keen to manage his minutes following a string of hamstrings injuries last season meaning Massengo, Alex Scott and Andy King will battle it out for a starting spot in the Carabao Cup contest at Burton's Pirelli Stadium.
However, there's also the ongoing doubt over Massengo's short-term future at the Robins with the club open to letting him leave, while King is also combining his role as a player with being a first-team coach.
"Matty (James) is missing from the weekend," Pearson said ahead of tomorrow's match. "He will be out for a couple of weeks. Two or three weeks something like that.
"We still have Han-Noah Massengo there, Alex Scott and Andy King so we have options but it is thin and it means that we have to manage selection in games. But we're not in any position to make any further signings at the moment. It's not a conversation that has any legs at the moment."
When asked whether signing a midfielder remains one of the priorities, he added: "It's not been the priority. We need another centre-back and we need options throughout the side.
"If a central midfield player was doable or somebody became available then that's a conversation to have then but at the moment no, it's our priorities lie elsewhere."
There was potential for the manager to bring a central defender into a midfield role to help fill the void left by James and Williams' absence. Kal Naismith has played in that position during his time at Luton while Rob Atkinson has also featured in the middle of the park towards the beginning of his career.
However, Pearson admitted he is not considering bringing one of those players into a defensive midfield role and admits "it's a situation he can't really do much about."
He added: "Not really. We're already short of centre-backs so I don't see the point of making an alteration to the whole system of play just because of our potential for not having too many options in midfield. It's a situation that we can't really do much about at the moment."
Pearson also cast doubt on "one or two" players' involvement for tomorrow's match who are struggling with illness, although refused to reveal who they were to prevent handing Coventry an advantage.
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