Cambridge United having to bide their time to do business in January transfer window

Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner has admitted that this month’s transfer window has become a ‘frustrating process’.

The U’s boss is eager to strengthen his squad before the deadline passes for business to be concluded on January 31 – and he had previously stated that he hoped to have some new additions to add to the recent arrivals of Ryan Bennett and Steve Seddon going into this weekend’s trip to Shrewsbury Town.

However, as is the case with many clubs in Sky Bet League One, getting certain deals over the line is proving to be a time consuming process, although Bonner remains confident signings will arrive in due course.

“It’s been interesting. There’s not been a massive amount that has happened so far,” said Bonner, who has refused to rule out a move for former defender Michael Morrison.

“We’ve seen quite a few first loans and quite a few big transfers, but there hasn’t been huge amounts.

“What you know when you’re speaking to all the agents and the clubs that we are, there is everyone attempting to be active but it takes the first few bits to fall for the next ones to happen.

“So many are conditional on other transfers happening so at the moment we’re stuck in a situation where we don’t look like doing anything else before the weekend. There’s no lack of effort, it’s just a frustrating process to get things done.

“Hopefully early next week we’ll be able to land one and potentially an extra one on top of that.

“We’re torn between wanting to get players in the door but also knowing that the value and quality that can become available later in the window if you hold your nerve a little bit can be even stronger.

“The task is that we want to get as strong as we can as quickly as we can, but in the end we want to get to the end of the window with the best possible squad we can get.

“We mustn't just take the first few players that are available if they’re not quite the right ones or we feel that we can do better later in the window.

“We’ll definitely sign more players. I’m confident that we’ll add and be a stronger squad. Exactly who they are and when that is, it’s a little bit more difficult to comment on.

“There is no doubt we’ve got the ability to sign the players and we’ve got plenty of options in line. We’re just hoping one or two of the right ones can land in the next two weeks.”