Town boss Paul Lambert says his focus will remain on free transfers despite the Blues receiving £450,000 for striker Ellis Harrison, who joined Portsmouth last week, and having picked up a windfall of almost £800,000 from ex-defender Matt Clarke’s move from Pompey to Brighton.
The Blues had anticipated a further £1 million going into the coffers via Bartosz Bialkowski’s move to Millwall, which as things stand now isn’t going to happen.
Asked whether the money the club has received over the last week will make a difference to his transfer business, Lambert said: "I think with the money structure the money doesn’t come in this season, so we probably have to look at frees unless something comes up and [owner] Marcus Evans] says ‘Okay we can maybe buy’.
"I don’t have a problem with that, that’s football, you have to respect what way the club is going, if it’s frees we have to look really hard and if we get them in, then great. And if you don’t then you move on.
"We’ve got a big squad as it is at the minute, so we have to wait and see what transpires over the next few weeks.”
He added: "We’ve got 23/24 players at the minutes, and we can only have 18 [in a matchday squad], so we might try and bring someone else in to help.
"But if you keep bringing people in then it stops the progression of the young ones coming through, so it doesn’t make sense, you may as well scrap the academy if you’re not going to utilise it.
"The young lads played a lot of the season last year, the lads that were out of our squad last season was huge, and there were too many disappointing players, there were too many.
"Six were loans, and some were out of contract, and we agreed not to take the option, so the squad is far too big, we have 23 players and anybody will tell you that’s probably a number they won’t want to work with because when you have too many, it becomes a problem.”
Asked whether that means there’s not going to be too many more signings, he said: "Not necessarily, no. If I can try and bring someone else in then great to do it, but it won’t alter anything.
"I don’t need one to go for one to come in, so if it’s someone I think can make us better then I can look at it. "
Regarding current bids both for incoming and outgoing players, he continued: "There’s a bit of both. There’s always some that happen and some that don’t happen, and that’s the same with lads going out and lads coming in.
"So we wait and see because there’s still a long time [left on the transfer window]. We try and work accordingly with the way we want to work, and if it’s beneficial and right for the club, then we’ll try something.”
With Peterborough and Portsmouth in particular having already made a number of signings, Lambert knows it’s going to be a tough division.
"It’s not easy, but money doesn’t guarantee anything,” he reflected. "You need a little bit more than just money to get you out of the league.
"I know what to expect, and I know exactly what’s coming. I know most of the guys now because I’ve worked with them for six or seven months, one or two aren’t here due to internationals and play-offs, but we’re looking forward to it, and we’ll be ready.”