NOTTINGHAM Forest are ready to splash the cash to ensure they have the firepower to mount a promotion challenge, says Stuart Pearce.
The Reds boss still hopes to strengthen his side in a number of positions prior to the big kick-off against Blackpool in eight days – with a striker still very much a priority.
Pearce is delighted with the business he has done so far – which has seen Forest get great value for money with the addition of Michael Mancienne and Lars Veldwijk for an initial outlay of less than £1m and Matty Fryatt and Chris Burke on free transfers.
But Pearce hinted that Forest are still chasing a big money front man to bolster their threat in front of goal and help ensure they are among the challengers in the Championship.
Forest made £5m-plus bids to land Charlie Austin and Gary Hooper this time last summer, but could not quite land their targets.
But Pearce hopes they will be more successful this time around.
"Our business has been reasonably low key, in terms of the outlay. With regards to Mancienne and Lars Veldwijk, while Burke and Fryatt have come on a free. The business side of it has been pretty good," said Pearce.
"We have sniffed around one or two higher priced players, if you like – and we will continue to do that. As I said, the chairman has been very supportive.
"Every time I have asked the question, they (the Forest hierarchy) have delivered for me financially. Some have come off, some have not come through the door."
Pearce believes adding a prolific goal scorer to the City Ground ranks is vital to their ambitions – but admits that signing a quality striker is the most challenging task of all in the transfer market, because they are the men in most demand.
"It is fair to say that most teams have a 20 goal a season striker if they get out of this league. If you don't have that, you need a contribution from your whole team, right across the board. We are, like everyone else in this league, looking for the players at the top of the team who can fire the goals and who can improve our squad. We will continue to look to do that," he said.
"It is probably the position that is toughest to fill. It is possible to rehash defenders into different positions – we have used Danny Fox in a central role, in pre-season, for example.
"With strikers it is more difficult – and they are the ones, they are the commodity in football that everyone wants, which makes it more difficult.
"We are pleased with the business we have done so far, we are pleased with the strikers we have got in. We have three front line strikers, in (Simon) Cox, Fryatt and Lars.
"On top of that, young Tyler Walker has come in, but he will take time.
"Dexter Blackstock is still injured and won't be available for a couple of months. We will look at his fitness when he does come back.
"I do still feel that we have to add to that part of the team."
Forest will also look to add more players on loan.
Midfielder Nate Chalobah is not on his list of targets – but Pearce confirmed there are a number of Chelsea players he is looking at, with a view to signing on loan.
"Chalobah is not one on our radar," he said. "There may be somebody else at Chelsea – but listen, Chelsea have a multitude of fantastic young players. A lot of teams will be talking to Chelsea this summer, through pre-season, to see what they have available.
"The same will apply to Liverpool, Manchester City and every other team at the top of the league. They need to farm their players out to get experience.
"Are some of those players good enough to come into the Championship and do themselves credit? The answer is categorically yes.
"It is fair to say that there will be plenty of teams putting calls in to Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, along with all the other teams up there."
