Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert says he will only add more loan players to his squad ‘if it really helps’ and has revealed ‘one or two players’ are likely to be loaned out this transfer window.
The Blues boss has signed four players so far this month – left-back Callum Elder (Leicester City, loan), striker Will Keane (Hull City, loan), forward Collin Quaner (Huddersfield Town, loan) and winger Simon Dawkins (free agent) – and is close to signing experienced free agent centre-back James Collins.
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Championship clubs can name a maximum of five loan players in their matchday squad and Town, having seen Jonathan Walters, Tayo Edun and Jordan Graham come and go on temporary deals, are back up to that number again.
Asked if he wanted to make further additions, Lambert said: “We’ll try and do something, but we can’t keep flooding the place with loans. I can only play five in my match day squad.
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“I’ll only sign another loan player if it helps. Only if it really helps.”
Asked if he would consider sending any loan players back to their parent clubs to free up another slot, the Blues boss said: “No. I’ve brought in Callum, Will and Collin. Matty (Pennington) and Trevoh (Chalobah) were before my time, but those two kids have been outstanding.
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“It doesn’t make sense sending them back because they’ve been big players for us, so that’s us up to the full quota.”
Lambert has previously said he wouldn’t consider letting any players leave the club until he got in signings of his own.
New signings will have pushed Kayden Jackson and Jordan Roberts further down the pecking order, while the return to fitness of Cole Skuse and Emyr Huws could see Jon Nolan made available.
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Janoi Donacien and Danny Rowe were already well down the pecking order.
Asked if some players might leave on loan, Lambert said: “One or two probably will go out. But I don’t want people to go out and not play any football or the club does not get some money back through part of the salary.
“We get that done to us, so we do the exact same to other teams.”
On Town’s reliance on loans, the Blues boss said: “That’s the problem. If you get five loan lads in, five ultimately end up going back and then you have to keep going down the same route. You shouldn’t be in that position.
“Number one, you shouldn’t bring in eight or nine players in one summer – regardless of what league you’re in. It doesn’t make sense.
“You have to get them to gel and that’s a really difficult thing for any manager to do. Ideally you get maybe two or three guys. That’s enough. You can’t keep have this turnover. It’s not normal.”
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