CHRIS Hughton is determined Blues will remain competitive whatever the transfer window throws at him.

If players are to be sold for financial reasons, Hughton says Blues must nevertheless be strong enough for the remainder of the Championship campaign.

And if that can be achieved without any major incomings, then so be it.

Hughton, who also has important decisions to make on loan players, will deal with what crops up as and when.

“We are working hard to have the best squad we can going into the second half of the season,” Hughton insists.

“We are certainly boosted by players who have come back from injuries and are now fit.

“But we will need every bit of that in the coming months and tweak where we can.

“Probably what’s more important than anybody new or fresh coming in is making sure what we have here is competitive.

“That will be the key more than anybody coming in.”

“We have to work around what we have here, the finances here,” Hughton continues.

“The squad I have got now is a good squad.

“If you look at the West Ham game the performances of Keith Fahey and Guirane N’Daw were excellent. Jean Beausejour, although I took him off towards the end, was looking sharper than he has recently.

“I left him out of a couple of games because I felt he needed to get that sharpness back.

“Marlon King is improving with every game. There is a real competitive squad here.

“What I haven’t got is a crystal ball to see anybody coming in for any of our players.