Town boss Mick McCarthy will look to the loan market or for a player close to the end of his contract as he attempts to add to his defensive options during January.
Currently, the Blues manager has only his regular back four - Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra, Tommy Smith and Aaron Cresswell - plus Tyrone Mings at his disposal.
"We’re having a look,” McCarthy confirmed. "The difficulty is that we’re not going to buy anybody. Can we get anybody that’s coming out of contract [in the summer] or is on loan and are they better than the ones I’ve got?
"I think they’ll have to be bloody damned good to be better than the ones we’ve got. We might need a bit of back-up, we’ll see.
"We can take loans and maybe someone who is coming out of contract who is surplus to requirements elsewhere or there could be a swap deal done."
Despite being unable to pay fees, McCarthy isn't complaining: "We haven’t bought anybody in the first place, but I accept the gig as it is and we’ve done great as it is so far with the situation as it is with the budget as it is.
"If we can get some loans, Marcus will back that, and we’ll keep looking, seeing if we can get anybody.”
Meanwhile, what's apparently the list of scouts attending Benfica's 2-0 victory over Porto yesterday is circulating and includes Town alongside the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona and Juventus.
Elsewhere, the futures of two former Blues strikers were the subject of speculation on an otherwise quiet Sunday for Town-related transfer gossip.
Jason Scotland, 34, who left the Blues a year ago, has had his contract settled by Barnsley and is set to return to Scottish football with his former clubs Dundee United and St Johnstone, as well as Hibernian, interested.
Connor Wickham, 20, who has scored eight goals in 10 games in his current loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday, is reportedly a £4 million target of Nottingham Forest.
Sunderland paid the Blues an initial £8.1 million - plus milestone top-ups and a percentage of any profit the Black Cats might make on a future sale - for the England U21 international in the summer of 2011.
We understand ex-Town reserves and Hibs centre-half Chris Hogg, 28, who announced his retirement from the professional game last week, is set to join Ryman League Division One North Needham Market.
