Blues boss Mick McCarthy says his attempts to add another central defender to his squad are “progressing” with a week of the transfer window remaining.
The August window closes at 11pm next Thursday with a central defender very much the priority at Town with skipper Luke Chambers (ankle), Adam Webster (ankle) and Tommy Smith (hamstring) all sidelined. Jordan Spence will again partner Jonas Knudsen at the heart of the defence against Fulham on Saturday.
"We’re progressing, we’re doing all right,” responded McCarthy, who made a scouting trip to Sweden on Sunday, when asked whether he was close to making an addition to his squad.
The Town manager says he’s not in a position to allow too many of the young players who were so impressive at Crystal Palace on Tuesday to go out on loan at present with so many senior players still sidelined, but would consider allowing Adam McDonnell, 20, to go out for a spell.
"If you look at the squad I’ve got, until the Tom Adeyemis, Luke Hyams and all of those boys are back fit, I really need them to be back-up.
"And don’t forget we can loan them out on emergency loans to the National League. And they get some good competitive football if that’s where they’re going.
"They can have them for a month and then after that with a 24-hour recall, so that probably suits us.
"Unless somebody like Adam McDonnell, who has been great by the way and did really well on Tuesday night, if somebody came in for him, a league team, I’d certainly consider it. I’d consider any reasonable requests. But I’m not going to leave myself short here.”