WITH the loan signing window now open, Burton Albion boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is hoping to pull off a surprise addition to his squad.
He says: "There won’t be a signing before Rochdale but there might be someone coming in. I can’t give you the name, although it will be a big surprise if we can pull it off.
"It has to be someone who is versatile, a winger, second striker, with pace. We have to look at people who are ready and who we can straight away put in, or someone who we can get ready in two or three weeks.
"We are always looking and we are looking at one position we need to strengthen."
Any signing is likely to fill the gap left by Zeli Ismail, who is taking much longer to recover from a pre-season injury than expected.
Hasselbaink says: “Zeli is a big worry. He is taking longer than we had hoped. We are looking to bring some strength and depth in that area in.”
There is better news on defender Darius Charles.
Hasselbaink says: “Darius is getting there; he has had a really good week. He’s sprinting 75 per cent. If he keeps making progress he will join with the group but it will still be a while yet. it will be middle to the end of October for Darius."
Albion now won’t be signing defender Justin Hoyte.
Hasselbaink says: “He has been training with us but we can’t give him a contract. Because Kelvin Maynard got injured and because he covered that right back position we needed somebody to come in but we have quite a big squad so we are trying to resolve that with in the squad and then we don’t have to spend on another player for that role.”