HIS fringe players may have impressed on the big stage, but Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy says there will still be more new arrivals before the end of the January transfer window.

Having made six changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie at Premier League side Aston Villa, the likes of Scott Loach, Elliott Hewitt and Michael Chopra all caught the eye in a spirited 2-1 defeat.

New signings Patrick Kisnorbo, David McGoldrick and Aaron McLean also made encouraging debuts, having joined the club on loan last week, but the Blues boss is still looking to strengthen in all areas.

The number of senior strikers at the club now stands at six, with the two new boys set to battle it out with Chopra, Daryl Murphy, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Jason Scotland.

However, McCarthy has still not given up hope of signing recent loanee goal machine DJ Campbell on a permanent basis – despite the fact the 31-year-old started for QPR in their 1-1 draw with West Brom at the weekend.

Asked if there were more signings on the horizon, McCarthy said: “Oh yes, we’re still looking – in all areas.

“We’re still trying to do a permanent deal with DJ. They [QPR] might want to keep him – let’s discuss that and get that out of the way first. If they don’t want him then we can speak to them about it.

“In David McGoldrick and Aaron McLean we’ve got two quality players for Championship level.

“It means somebody has to sit on the bench or sit in the stands, but there’s one thing worse than having too many options and that’s not having any. We need striking options.”

– There will be an Ipswich Town webchat at 1pm today. Join us to have your say on loanees, transfers and who should play at Cardiff on Saturday.