PAOLO Di Canio will dip into the loan market when the window opens next week and bring in a striker to replace Leon Clarke.

Former QPR frontman Clarke will not play for Di Canio again following the very public altercation between the two soon after the defeat to Southampton on Tuesday.

Di Canio instructed his scouting team to sound out a potential signing on transfer deadline day, but with little time to bring someone in they opted to instead wait until the emergency loan window opens.

And Di Canio has his sights on a young and hungry striker who has experience of playing in League Two.

He told the Advertiser: “Yes we need another striker. The chairman and my team are working at the moment in helping to find a new striker.

“We need a League Two player who is around 22 or 23. I don’t want a player of around 30 years old, 25 maybe but 22 is a good age because they have a passion to play football and improve and want to be a part of a team that can come out of this moment and build something important.”

Di Canio cited Ahmed Abdulla – Town’s only loan capture of the transfer window – as having the qualities he is looking for in the player he wants to bring to the club.

“Ahmed is young, he is hungry and I know for sure he is going to give his best because he has the desire to build his career,” he added.

The club will look to move on Clarke when the loan window opens.

Di Canio has worked hard over the summer to rid the bad attitude that seemed rife in the squad last year, and he was of the opinion that Clarke‘s mentality mirrored that which he had been trying to eradicate.

“We are lucky because the bad habit we had last year, we want to clean completely,” he continued.

“I believe we were lucky he (Clarke) missed a goal against Southampton because otherwise if he scored it, it would have been quiet for a moment and he would be here for the next three or four months, but then we would be in trouble.”