Bristol City will consider looking at Premier League loan deals in the January transfer market but stressed that it will only happen if the financials make sense.
Nigel Pearson has been reluctant to bring players in temporarily because Premier League player's wages are typically much higher than the current squad, there's usually an agreement to play them in a certain number of matches and he previously alluded to the existing culture not being strong enough to make loan signings.
While the latter is now in a better position in comparison to 12 months ago, the financials of signing top-flight players still remain. Pearson has yet to make a loan signing since his appointment in February 2021 with Fulham duo Steven Sessegnon and Alfie Mawson the last temporary arrivals in September 2020.
During the fans forum, Pearson and Richard Gould were asked whether bringing a loan player to the club in January was feasible. While the idea wasn't ruled out, there was a reluctance to delve into that market due to its unpredictability.
Gould responded from a financial perspective: "Yes, if they can provide enough value but you can pay an awful lot of money for them and then they disappear six or 12 months later. You've put no value into your own squad and all you've done is pump up the value of someone else.
"Someone like a Tammy (Abraham) who was an incredible loan signing. Andy Cole was another one. It's not something we don't look at, we genuinely look at it.
"When we're putting the shortlist together we will have a combination of people who are available to purchase, people who are available on free transfers and people who are available on loan. We compare them against the best options and see where we're going to get the best value from."
Pearson added his own previous experience of bringing in loan signings including forgettable deals of signing Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane both during his time with Leicester. He also spoke about how the market has changed over the years which have only added to complications in securing deals.
The City manager said: "And the market's changed. I've taken players like Tom Cleverley, Jesse Lingard - I sent him back to Manchester United because he was a disgrace and he got a b******ing, I'm serious.
"Harry Kane, didn't play him. Or I played him but the players weren't having him. What you have to remember with things like this is their careers may have gone like this (up) afterwards or like that (down) but they need the experience. So sometimes the experience is a clip around the ear hole and send them back.
"Back in those days of course, we're only talking 10 years ago. When you took players from Premier League sides, the first six months will be free and after that, you might be a nominal loan fee. Now if these players came into our club, they would be our top earners by 2x what our top earners are earning and they might not be a success.
"It's a different... honestly, it changes so quickly and I think... I don't want to slag agents off per se because that would be unfair but the game has changed hugely in the last five years in terms of what people want out of it and there aren't enough managers who have control still over the decisions of where players go.
"I've spoken to managers at one or two big clubs in the Premier League and enquired about their players and they say 'It's nothing to do with me, you'll have to enquire with our loan manager' and it just becomes a numbers game. At that point, I go, 'we're not doing it.'"
Gould then concluded: "Just to expand on that. There are 419 players in the Premier League and the average salary is £55,000 a week so when you're looking at bringing youngsters in, they're on a lot of money.
"Also, the problem with the loan managers, and I will be very nice when I talk about them because we may need their favours but they run a business and within a Premier League club the loan manager is expected to turn a profit. So, yes they are trying to get experience into their players but they also want to make money out of it."
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