Manager Paul Simpson has stressed that there is still money to spend on new players at Carlisle United before the transfer window closes.

The Blues boss is eager to strengthen his squad, with further attacking reinforcements still in his sights.

Simpson said United are continuing to keep tabs on a number of potential targets.

He said the market remained challenging but he was determined to bring the right calibre of player to Brunton Park.

“I’d like to bring at least one more in if we can,” said Simpson.

“We’re going to keep looking and trying to do it, and we’ll work as late as we have to in the window to see if we can get the right one.

“Because there are some funds available – it’s not that the directors have tightened the purse strings.

“We’ve got funds available, it’s finding the right ones to spend it on.”

Simpson said United could not afford the kind of player being chased by some of their wealthier League One rivals.

And he said the Blues had to keep a range of options in mind rather than place all their eggs in one basked.

News and Star: Paul Simpson says Carlisle are monitoring a range of possible targetsPaul Simpson says Carlisle are monitoring a range of possible targets (Image: Ben Holmes)

“We have to have a list, because even with the goalkeeper situation, we talked to Premier League clubs and had a definite who was coming in [only for it not to happen],” he added.

“We’d been speaking to Reading [about Jokull Andresson], we spoke to other clubs about their goalkeepers, and it’s waiting for the right one to drop.

“In terms of the others, we’ve got a whole host we’ve got tickling along, but we just don’t know which ones are going to drop.

“We’ve probably had four players who [we were] enquiring about over the summer and we thought we had a chance, and they’re on the bench in the Premier League over the last weekend, because they’re needed by their own clubs.

“We were speaking to a Premier League club last week and they were saying, ‘You can have [a certain player] as a free loan,’ but we don’t know whether he’s going to be able to play for us. We’re not sure if he’s good enough.

“I don’t want to just stockpile bodies, I want them able to do a job for us. We’re not going to just take them for the sake of it.

“If it means the right one isn’t available we won’t bring anybody in. We’ve got to be sure in our minds we’re bringing in someone that can affect us.

“That’s where we are now, this is the level we’re at. If they can’t do it, they’re not going to do us any favours, and to be fair we ain’t going to do them any favours because they ain’t gonna play for us.”

Simpson said he would be speaking to head of recruitment Greg Abbott today and suggested a signing before this weekend was unlikely.

He added: “We’ve looked at Fleetwood, Oxford and Wigan [the clubs United have faced so far in the league] and we can’t compete financially with any of them; we can’t get that type of player in.

“We’ve got to try and be lucky and nick the right person and personality.

“We’ll keep looking until the window closes and with a bit of luck we might get the right one.”

Simpson added that United have not received any further enquiries for any of their own players, and he hoped it would stay that way.