Chester FC boss Steve Burr has been thwarted in his bid to sign a centre-forward from the Evo-Stik League.
But, with a move for Rochdale teenager Nyal Bell in place , he has lined up two more alternatives who are available on loan and expects to complete a deal this afternoon in time for tomorrow's game at Braintree Town.
Burr held talks regarding a permanent move for a targetmen he believes has the potential to step up to the National League but the deal stalled over finances.
Read: Rochdale forward Nyal Bell poised to sign on loan
That added to the manager's frustration after a number of near misses as he strives to improve his striking options, however Burr has two other options.
One would be a loan, which the manager admits is not his first choice, and the other would be on a deal until the end of the season. Both targets have Football League experience.
Burr said: "We were keen on bringing a centre-forward in this week but we just probably can't afford to do that at the moment with what the club were looking for and obviously wages wise so that's one that we've got to put on hold for a minute.
"We're still looking and there's a couple of other options. There's a lad that we can possibly take from a Football League club and there's a lad in the National League who we're looking possibly to bring in but again that would be a loan for us to have a look at him for a month.
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"The loan system is good where it can help us financially but for me having your own players is always better.
"With the loans two things happen, they do well and go back into their own teams or they don't do so well and they go back anyway so it's a bit of a difficult one.
"There's always lads lower down that are looking for that opportunity but you never know how it's going to go.
"You can get a lad at this level who's played a lot of Football League games and they come in and sometimes it doesn't work out but I think the ones from lower down have that bit of a hunger to come in and do well."
