Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson concedes the club's summer transfer business could be over unless circumstances change although refused to rule out more new faces including loan deals.
On Saturday, Pearson claimed they can only bring in signings if players leave but highlighted the difficulties because the squad is already on the thin side. As it stands, City have brought in four arrivals and with five senior players leaving including Callum O'Dowda, Taylor Moore, Tyreeq Bakinson, Robbie Cundy and Kasey Palmer.
One of Pearson's biggest tasks this summer was to try and balance the books to make the club more sustainable to run with each of City's four signings arriving on free transfers. The manager and club have been working hard to try and fall in line with the EFL's Profit & Sustainability rules after posting losses of £38.4m for the financial year ending 2021.
Pearson still wants to sign a central defender and a defensive midfielder which could then allow one or two youngsters to leave on loan. The club would ideally prefer to let a number of their starlets leave temporarily to gain senior experience although the lack of depth in the side means the manager is unwilling to sanction moves at the moment.
The likes of Sam Bell, who signed a new three-year contract on Monday, Ryley Towler, Duncan Idehen and Dylan Kadji are likely to be some of the names the club would wish to send out on loan and Pearson admitted keeping them at the club means their pathway could be interrupted.
Speaking to BBC Bristol's Sound of the City, the manager said: "I work for the club and I work with the club to try and achieve our objective so regardless of whether I would like to do A, B or C, it doesn't matter.
"What we have to do is recognise what we can do and how we can do them and unless circumstances change, it's less likely we can do more business but I'm not ruling anything out because things can change quickly.
"My job is to make decisions that I think are right but also are in keeping with how the club want to move forward. There are players that we would have liked to have put out on loan in an ideal world but because of our situation numbers-wise, their pathway will be interrupted because I can't afford for them to go out.
"We have to make sure there's enough cover and unfortunately some of the younger players in one sense may suffer but they probably may get opportunities in the first team they usually wouldn't have. We have to put the first team at the top of the tree in terms of priority and when the first team's successful, everything comes to life below that."
Pearson admitted there has been interest in players that they would prefer to keep hold of this summer. Although providing no clear indication in relation to which players he is referring to, wonderkid Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo remain the club's more profitable assets and interest in the duo's signatures have been no secret.
Tottenham and Leeds are understood to be two Premier League clubs interested in Scott with West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton all scouting the midfielder. The Hammers and Nottingham Forest have also been linked with Semenyo in the past and Bristol Live understands reports stating that Championship rivals Middlesbrough have enquired after the Ghana forward are accurate.
"There has been some interest in one or two players we don't want to leave so that's as important as the lack of interest in the players we might want to leave," Pearson added.
"Within all that, there are going to be possibilities of things you may or may not consider come out the blue. It's definitely not a black and white picture but it's about making decisions that will allow us to make progress and they won't always be popular decisions but that is a part of my job."
Pearson also spoke of the difficulties of bringing Premier League players in on loan. While previously reluctant to sign players temporarily due to the previous culture surrounding the club, the manager admitted enquiries have been made although nothing has materialised. Aston Villa's midfielder Tim Iroegbunham has been one of the names linked with a move to BS3.
He added: "Here's the main reason I haven't brought anyone in, the existing culture isn't strong enough to have people in who aren't necessarily going to be here the year after so I think it's a viable option for us this year because the existing strength among the group of players is a lot stronger than last year.
"We've made enquiries about a number of players that haven't materialised more because Premier League clubs have tours in pre-season and they use their younger players to populate their squads when they travel abroad. A number of clubs might be doing what we do, they want to have a good look at them in pre-season and that's what I want to do with our players. I want to make sure that we don't miss any progressions that our players have had.
"It's also quite problematic to get the players you want on loan because there will be half a dozen Championship clubs looking at the same players. So it's not through lack of effort on our part of trying to get people in, it's just that it hasn't materialised yet."
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