IPSWICH Town manager Mick McCarthy will step up his transfer search next week after the thinness of his squad was laid bare.

The Blues boss has just 16 players with significant Championship experience to call upon tomorrow when his side travel to struggling Premier League outfit Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round.

The likes of Stephen Henderson, Bradley Orr (ineligible due to loans), Tyrone Mings (cup-tied) and Andy Drury (illness) are unavailable, while Danny Higginbotham and DJ Campbell have seen their loan deals expire.

In addition, McCarthy wants to rest a number of his players who have worked their socks off during a spell of four games in 11 games over the busy Christmas period.

“I knew the squad was thin from day one,” said the Blues boss.

“We’ve lost Danny Higginbotham so that’s why I was delighted to bring Patrick Kisnorbo in (on a month-long loan from Leeds yesterday). I need to get some more players in though.

“We’re talking about loads of players. I’ve been in there with Dave Bowman, Taff (Ian Evans) and Steve McCall (scouts) looking at a list of players as long as my arm. We’ll keep looking.

“We’ve made loads of calls, but nothing’s moving and nothing’s concrete at the moment. Thankfully we’ve got a week without a game coming up to change that.”

Speaking of Kisnorbo – who is eligible to play tomorrow and is on stand-by to replace Luke Chambers if he doesn’t recover from a broken nose – McCarthy said: “I’m delighted we’ve got him in because we only had Chambo and Tommy Smith at centre-backs.

“I was actually really delighted at the prospect that I might be able to play Tyrone Mings (the 19-year-old defender a recent signing from non-league side Chippenham Town) and then I find out he is cup-tied, not even for Chippenham, but having played in the competition last August for Yate. I thought ‘wow, I was on holiday then!’”

Meanwhile, McCarthy says that he expects DJ Campbell to play for QPR at home to West Brom in the FA Cup tomorrow – despite their 1-0 win at Chelsea on Wednesday night.

“Suddenly everyone is saying ‘Harry (Redknapp) might be able to attract some players now’,” said the Blues boss. “I would still think he’ll want to have a look at DJ (Campbell) though.”

Mccarthy also confirmed that left-back Kelly Youga – unable to break into the squad over the last few weeks – will not be kept on when his short-term contract expires later this month.