Joey Barton intends to exceed the cap on loan players for EFL squad, even if it means some difficult decisions down the road for the Bristol Rovers boss.
Clubs are allowed five loan players in their matchday squad under EFL rules, and the Gas have four of those places filled with Josh Coburn (Middlesbrough), Lewis Gibson (Everton), Ellery Balcombe (Brentford) and Jarell Quansah (Liverpool).
The rules do not limit the number of loan signings and Barton expects to bring in several more players before Tuesday's transfer deadline, confirming he will be content to have six or even seven on-loan players in his squad if the right options come available.
That could create some headaches for the Gas boss, particularly if Gibson returns to full fitness from a thigh injury as expected next month. Barton would be forced to leave loanees out of his squad to comply with the limit of five, but he says that will be a nice problem to have.
"We’ve got a loan player out injured at the moment," he said, in reference to Gibson. "He’s not currently fit and there is no guarantee he is going to come back and play any games.
"At the minute, we need a bit of space, and ideally, you would take permanents, but it’s a tough window to take permanents in January.
"You are kind of in the loan market and we will probably have to take a sixth loan, and then if they all get fit, fight that out from there. We are happy, by the way, if all six loans would be fit because then you’ve got an issue.
"Maybe you convert one, who knows? I don’t know. There are a few options at play, but we will take a sixth loan and maybe even a seventh."
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Morecambe, Barton said he wants to make five more signings before Tuesday's transfer deadline, and one of those spots was filled on Friday with the signing of ex-Blackpool midfielder Grant Ward.
Barton still wants a centre-half, a left-back, a central midfielder and a right winger before the window slams shut, which he admits might be on the wishful side in the timeframe, but he believes the Gas are in a good position thanks to their growing relationships with elite clubs for loan players in the wake of the successes of Elliot Anderson and Connor Taylor among others.
"We’re starting to get a good reputation for developing young talent and helping at that next stage of development, which leads to more access as people go ‘Ok, you did that with (Harry) Souttar, you did that with Connor Taylor, well what about if we give you him’," he added.
"What I’m finding in this window is a lot of big clubs are a lot more receptive to giving us players, mainly because as a football club we have earned the right to be trusted with these precocious young talents.
"It’s interesting to me. They find us so refreshing because they are like ‘If we loan you this player, you are going to have a backline of this age’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, absolutely’. They are like ‘OK, this is not normal’ in terms of most are wanting a bit of experience in there and I can see why.
"But I’m in the business of developing young players and educating young players. There are going to be some harem-scarem moments and you are going to have the mistakes that young players make, but the upside of that is how well they can do it when they get and seeing how quickly they can grow when that feeling and confidence hits their bloodstream.
"There is nothing like seeing a young player grasp a concept, add it to his game and grow in confidence. No disrespect to the older players, they don’t tend to have that upside to getting it right. Ok, the other side they have is they don’t have the madness and mistakes in there, but what we do find is they do happen with senior players. It’s not just young players.
"I was a young player given an opportunity and it’s important us young coaches take chances on younger players. If you go for older players, it’s a safe position, but as you know from my short time here, I’m not here for safety. That’s not what we’re about."
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