Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris opens up on the process of the January transfer window as centre-forwards are the main targets

Neil Harris has made no secret of his desire to bolster Cambridge United’s options in the final third of the pitch during the January transfer window.

All three of the players in the U’s squad that can operate as central strikers are currently injured and while Harris has revealed that Elias Kachunga could be fit to return by the middle of next month, joint leading goalscorers Gassan Ahadme and Fejiri Okenabirhie are out of action for the foreseeable future.

The club’s board have been supportive of Harris in his request for new faces – and now the recruitment process is well under way.

Harris said: “We’d love to (get some business done early) and I’ve got to say the board and Paul Barry (majority owner), have been fantastic – absolutely fantastic.

“They know the injury situation and they are the first people to know we need to add. They want to add and they want to support.

“It’s not easy, as always. But I can’t praise the club highly enough for the support that they want to offer.

“Ben Strang (sporting director) is now busy in the background with the recruitment team, supported by myself and the coaches to try and find the right personnel.

“At the top end of the pitch, we’ve got injuries in that position. It’s not a secret and I’m not releasing any genius comments – we need to add centre-forwards.

“That’s our plan, but a lot of teams are looking for attacking players. But you can all have your best plans in place, you have players lined up to come in but as we’ve found – with four games in 10 days – you pick up illnesses and injuries and the landscape changes for players you might be taking. And the landscape changes for players that might be going out of the building from us.

“It really is reactive all the time, but we know what we’re looking for and we’ve identified targets. We’ve got support from the board and it’s now just trying to piece the jigsaw together.”

The winter window is notoriously a challenging period to get deals done, particularly early on, with clubs often left to scramble late on to get their business concluded.

But with Harris in desperate need of players that are capable of scoring goals, there is a balancing act to be had.

He added: “We’ve identified the positions that we need, we’ve identified the profile of player that we need, which is key. And then it’s trying to identify the players that fit the profile.

“Ideally you find five or six players that fit the profile, but the realistic availability of five six players in a position in January is low.

“So you might have three or four realistic options in a position and then as a coach or a manager, you go first choice, second choice, third choice – you want to get the first choice obviously.

“But the balance is sometimes with the first choice you’ve got to wait and the third choice is available – do you jump and do it? That’s the risk element and I’m just being 100 per cent honest so that everyone understands the situation and the predicament that we end up in as football head coaches and managers. That’s sometimes the gamble.

“At the moment we’re still in the process of identifying exactly who is available and then we’ll make those tough decisions.”