SWINDON Town manager John Sheridan says the club is far more likely to bring players in if they are available on loan this month.

With a number of early deals completed in the first week of the mid-season transfer window – two of which were brought in using the loan system – Town have stumbled in their attempts to bring in the pair of strikers Sheridan revealed he is after.

Names like Dundee United’s Lawrence Shankland and Leeds United’s Ryan Edmondson have been mooted, but as yet there have been no advanced talks between Swindon and a new forward.

Sheridan said prior to the weekend’s win over Ipswich that successful deals are hard to come by at the moment as Town have reached the number of loans allowed in a match-day squad, five, therefore a permanent acquisition would be preferable to prevent players missing out.

Discussing the frustration behind a lack of transfer activity in the last week, Sheridan said: “We would prefer permanent deals – the owner knows that, Paul Jewell knows that – but it’s very difficult trying to get a permanent deal at the moment.

“If we have to go into the loan market because it’s easier for us to get players in and we have more chance of getting players in, then that’s the way we’ll go.

“The problem is you can only use five loans on a match day, so it becomes difficult.”

Meanwhile, defender Tom Broadbent has received an injection to help with his recovery from an injury picked up against Crewe Alexandra in December, according to Sheridan.

The Town boss is banking on his towering centre-half being back soon, though he was unable to give an exact date when pressed by Adver Sport last week.

Sheridan said: “Tom is still out injured, but I’m not sure what his injury is. I know he’s still with the physio.

“I’m not being disrespectful, but when players are injured they’re not really any good to me. I’ve got to concentrate on who’s fit and available.

“Regarding Tom, he’s had an injection but I’m not sure what the next stage of his rehabilitation process is – the physio is obviously better qualified to deal with that.

“It’s probably going on a bit longer than what it should have done. It’s not a serious injury, it’s just something that I would have expected him to be back two weeks ago.

“Whether the injection will help him, because he started to try to train two weeks ago and had a little bit of a setback, I don’t know.”