Matthew Upson and Stan Lazaridis have joined Christophe Dugarry and Jamie Clapham on the casualty list with injuries sustained against Blackburn in Saturday’s FA Cup clash.

Bruce is down to the bare bones in terms of defenders, with Upson out for eight weeks and Lazaridis for a month while Clapham’s hamstring injury is still keeping him on the sidelines.

But co-owner David Sullivan and chairman David Gold have given Bruce the go-ahead to bring in new blood, although there is unlikely to be a spending spree on the scale of the last January transfer window.

Bruce said: “We’ve got five or six players out, big players for us, and ideally we’d love to bring two or three players in on a permanent basis.

“We are exploring all the avenues, ringing around everyone to see who is available.

“In an ideal world I would rather not do much business now because you get better value for money when you go in the market in the summer and there are more people to chose from.

“But we are down to just 16 fit players. It is quite incredible. A couple of weeks ago we did not have an injury. All of a sudden we’ve got four or five and we will lose Aliou Cisse to the African Nations Cup for a month.

“I’ve spoken to the board and they have made it clear that there are funds available and that they will listen to me and anything I put forward to them.

“To be fair to them, it is what I expected. In the past they’ve always put their hands in their pockets.

“Some of the names I’ve been linked with in the last two or three days have been laughable. For example, we couldn’t afford Robbie Keane whom I was linked with and the week before it was Marc Overmars.

“But I have got two or three targets in mind and we will see what develops over the next two or three days.”

One player who could benefit from the injury crisis is centre-back Darren Purse who has had few opportunities because of the form of Upson and his defensive partner Kenny Cunningham.

Bruce said: “Darren had an ankle injury last season and that’s why we had to bring in Matthew Upson who has had a terrific 12 months.

“But here’s his chance. This is why you need a squad and when people get an opportunity it is up to them to try and take it.”

Bruce admitted that he had even looked at the possibility of making Maik Taylor’s move from Fulham permanent, which would free up one of the two loan signings that a Premiership side can make. Although there is no concrete news at present.

But he admitted that reports suggesting he would be signing Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell on a permanent basis this month were wide of the mark.

Bruce said: “We would love to have Mikael permanently. But he is Chelsea’s player and they have said they will review the situation at the end of the season. It is as simple as that. We can’t change that no matter what we would like to do.”