LEEDS United head coach Steve Evans remains keen to bolster his squad with new signings ahead of the transfer deadline on Monday night.

The Whites have signed Sunderland midfielder Liam Bridcutt and Middlesbrough winger Mustapha Carayol on loan, and also signed Toumani Diagouraga from Brentford.

Yet Evans is still pressing for further recruits as Leeds bid to keep their fading play-off hopes alive.

President Massimo Cellino has hinted that further arrivals this month were “unlikely”, but Evans said: “If the president says there’s no more signings then there’ll be no more signings, but the words I heard attributed to the president was ‘it was unlikely’.

“It was unlikely a week ago that we were going to sign the boy from Brentford (Diagouraga).

“He takes control of the financial situation so he knows how near we are.

“When he says it’s unlikely, he may feel that one or two things are slipping away from us. We’ll see where we go.

“Unlikely could be just a stage of negotiations rather than what actually happens.

“The president was still working (on a deal) on Tuesday night. Sometimes you make a bid and it’s not quickly accepted.

“My understanding is that we’ve got negotiations going on on several fronts. The president knows what stage they’re at and if he thinks it’s slipping then it would be unlikely.”

Evans wanted to add a new centre-back to his squad and is keen to strengthen his small group of strikers, a pool weakened by the recurrence of Chris Wood’s hamstring injury.

The forward underwent a scan yesterday and is a major doubt for tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Bolton.

Meanwhile, Leeds midfielder Tommaso Bianchi has completed his loan move to Italian Serie B side Ascoli but captain Sol Bamba will not be following him out of Elland Road.

Evans said: “Sol’s a solid member of our squad, he’s our captain and he does that job with real professionalism.

“I’m not aware of any bids for Sol in this window but I can’t stop speculation.”