Cherries: Howe rules out any late arrival (From Bournemouth Echo)

Cherries: Howe rules out any late arrival

7:00am Saturday 6th February 2010 in

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Cherries boss Eddie Howe described as a “non-starter” the chance of bolstering his threadbare squad with an unattached player ahead of today’s match.

Howe revealed that the prospect of Cherries recruiting a non-contract player for 28 days in order to boost their numbers had been discussed, with the promotion-chasers down to just 12 available professional outfield players.

But the Dean Court chief ruled that out after confirming that Marvin Bartley was set to return to act as Cherries’ third outfield substitute for this afternoon’s League Two home clash against Cheltenham (3pm).

“Marvin has made a quicker than expected recovery from injury so we are back to our 14 pros, so we will not be able to get anyone in,” Howe told the Echo.

“It might have been an option but it isn’t half difficult to find someone who is out of work who would be good enough to come and do a job for us.

“In a sense it is a non-starter because they would be restricting themselves to us and they can’t play for anyone else for the rest of the season due to the transfer window.”

Howe added that his brother, Steve Lovell, would not have been a potential signing because he had already committed to Partick until the end of the season.

Due to Cherries’ player shortage, Howe’s assistant Jason Tindall was a substitute in the away win at Rotherham.

The club tried to bring in Doncaster’s Mustapha Dumbuya on an emergency loan prior to Tuesday’s game, but the league blocked that move.

Loan signings for any club are not permitted until next week due to the cooling off period at the end of the transfer window.