Nigel Pearson is not ruling out bringing in an experienced goalkeeper to challenge Max O'Leary for the No1 shirt next season but insists it's not a priority position and a decision will be made during pre-season.
The goalkeeping department has seen notable changes throughout the campaign with club captain Dan Bentley heading to Wolves in the January transfer window having lost his place in the side to his former team-mate back in October. O'Leary, 26, has made the shirt his own with a number of consistent performances and was rewarded with a contract extension until 2026 in February.
However, he hasn't necessarily been challenged in the position. Nikita Haikin arrived as a No2 in January on a short-term deal until the end of the season but was released two months later after agreeing a three-year contract with former club Bodo/Glimt.
Since then, academy prospect Harvey Wiles-Richards has been back-up stopper, and while the club rate his potential highly, the 20-year-old's competitive experience has been limited to nine National League South games on loan with Gloucester City last season.
City also have 21-year-old keeper Stefan Bajic out on loan with Ligue 2 side Valenciennes but he's endured a difficult spell having fallen out of favour in head coach Nicolas Rabuel's plans after failing to make the matchday squad for their last three league fixtures.
When asked whether he would like to add an experienced head in goal, Pearson responded: "Well again, there would be a possible argument to say can you get a more experienced No2 in?
"There would be that type of argument. Having said that, I think Harvey has developed really nicely, Stef's had a bit of a difficult experience over in France, I think we're going to have to have a look at it and see in pre-season if there will be opportunities to look at those players in games to see where we feel they'll be at, and then the decisions will be made from there.
"There is an argument to say, yes, we could look at getting a more senior No2 but again, that sits outside of what I've been talking about with having a young, hungry squad.
"Clearly, the goalkeeping position is slightly... sometimes you need a steadier head there. It's not a massive priority at the moment just because there are other areas that I would rather invest some of our budget towards. As I say, Harvey has come in very well."
Pearson was full of praise for O'Leary's progress and development in the team this season, particularly in the way he is able to command his area from set-pieces. Ahead of the City's awards night on Thursday, where the Player of the Season will be one of 16 awards announced, Pearson noted the stopper as one of his top performers throughout the campaign.
"The players who I think have had good seasons are for different reasons," Pearson added, when asked who's been his player of the season. "If you want me to name a few, I think Zak Vyner has had a really good season. Obviously, Alex Scott would be a player people look at and say he's developing nicely, Pringy's had a decent season too.
"Max has done exceptionally well. He's done really, really well. His presence behind the back four has been quite outstanding and I think Mark Sykes has had a really good season too.
"There's lots... Tommy (Conway). I could look at them and say there are not too many players who are still here who would be having negative equity, let's put it like that.
"Matty James has proven how important he is - there are many stories that have been positive on individual levels and it means we need to continue to develop the ethic of the team itself to make sure all those positive individual stories become what is the most important thing and that is a successful team story, because that's all I'm bothered about."
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