Joey Barton continues to play a waiting game in the transfer market as Fleetwood Town prepare for Saturday’s League One opener against Burton Albion.

Another home tie for Town in Carabao Cup

The former Sheffield United midfielder Mark Duffy has become Town’s fifth pre-season signing – half the number they brought in last summer.

The pandemic and salary cap have changed the landscape but for Barton it’s all about patience.

Callum Camps is one of five summer signings so far for Fleetwood

Town’s head coach said: “We are in the market and down the line with a few things. Hopefully we can get them over the line but basically we have to wait for teams to discard players.

“It would be great to walk past the showroom and be able to buy Lamborghinis and Ferraris but we are a little bit like used car salesmen down in League One.

“It’s not just me, it’s every manager. You are waiting for the Championship guys to discard the players they don’t want and for the Premier League to do the same, so you have to be patient.

“I tend to feel our group settles down and improves once the window has closed.

“This year it’s the middle of October, so we won’t have played an enormous amount of games by then.

“Everyone here is a good player and wouldn’t be at Fleetwood if they weren’t, so it’s an opportunity for someone if we don’t get the reinforcements.”

Two who have done their utmost to seize opportunities are academy graduates James Hill and Harrison Holgate.

“They did superbly on Tuesday (at Carlisle in the EFL Trophy) and really, really well in parts of the game against Wigan (in the Carabao Cup),” added Barton.

“It’s a phenomenal experience for them and they will come on an awful lot for playing against (Wigan’s) Joe Garner, who is a very accomplished striker.

“As a young player, if you get that experience it can do nothing but stand you in good stead.”

Another position that could become a priority for Town to strengthen is in goal, after Joel Coleman was injured against Latics.

With Billy Crellin on loan at Bolton, Barton doesn’t want to go into the league season with Alex Cairns as his only senior keeper.

He said of Coleman: “We’ll get him scanned but it looks like he’s going to struggle for the game on Saturday.

“Hopefully it’s not a long-term injury but clearly he’s felt some discomfort. It would depend on the injury but you can’t go into a campaign with one goalkeeper, so I might have to ask (coach) Dave Lucas to get on the treadmill and get his gloves back on!”