Nigel Pearson admits it's unlikely the club will dip into the free agent market to bolster his numbers at the back because he refuses to bring in names who won't strengthen his side.
That message was consistent with his update regarding Sol Bamba's situation with the Reds after insisting the veteran defender is still training with the club to help the 37-year-old maintain his fitness while he remains without a club.
The City manager wanted to bring in another right-sided central defender this summer with his options limited. Zak Vyner, Kal Naismith and Rob Atkinson have emerged as Pearson's first choice while Timm Klose remains a back-up option having recently recovered from a knee injury.
Tomas Kalas is out until "October or November", Ryley Towler headed out on loan on transfer deadline day to AFC Wimbledon while George Tanner, typically a full-back, has played on the right of a defensive three in his last two matches. City only named one defender on the bench against Blackburn Rovers last weekend in attacking wing-back Kane Wilson.
Pearson's reiterated comments throughout the summer that City could only bring in new faces if others departed, most notably the prized assets of Antoine Semenyo and Alex Scott. With the duo staying at Ashton Gate, it meant no other players came through the door after Stefan Bajic became the fourth and final arrival on July 5.
However, the free agent market remains open and similar to Bamba, there are players still without a club including notable Championship performers Ryan Bennett, Gary Cahill and Michael Hector. When asked whether Pearson would entertain the option of signing a free agent, he responded: "I said I'll bring players in if they make us better.
"I know we don't have a lot of numbers but what's the point of bringing players in who aren't going to affect the quality of the team? There's no point for me.
"There may be players out there, I don't know. Well, I do know but the fact that players are still out there would suggest that there are reasons deals still aren't done.
"I think you're aware of the most important one and that's the financial implications for football clubs. Everybody is finding the climate very difficult to deal with. There are Premier League clubs who are having problems.
"It's all relative to your own circumstances and we will endeavour to continue to build our squad and develop it at the rate we can. That doesn't mean we don't discuss it internally and there are discussions that we all don't agree on but I think that's healthy."
Bamba's appearance with the Under-21s last week in the 0-0 draw with Birmingham was a suggestion that Pearson was casting an eye on the player beyond just training. He didn't feature for the youth side on Monday perhaps with the manager preferring to give minutes to the likes of Tanner and Klose who played alongside talent Joe Low at the back.
When asked whether there was any rush on making a decision on his future, Pearson responded: "He's still training, it's to help Sol get fit and that's why he's still here.
"He's thankful to be able to come in and train and he's a very positive person to have around the place so I don't have any issue with that. I've already spoken about trying to help people in the game who need a leg up so that's really what it is."
On Wednesday, Pearson provided an injury update on Kalas and finally put a time frame on his return to action. The centre-back will be out of action until October or November with an ongoing knee issue having undergone a procedure.
Pearson did provide more detail into the issue, saying the procedure was made more complicated by the area of the knee. He added: "It's a knee injury. I can't give you any more than that.
"He's had a procedure that is a difficult one to access. It's in a part of the knee, at the back which is difficult to access because of the amount of tissue and layers of tissue to get through. It's an unusual injury but he's doing really well."
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