STEVE Bruce says Hull City will not be rushed in their search for new attacking options, despite seeing a move for long-standing target Charlie Austin collapse this week.
As first revealed by the Mail yesterday, City saw their £4.5m deal to sign Austin fall apart on Monday night when a stringent medical unearthed problems with a knee injury.
The 24-year-old's heartache sends the Tigers back to square one in their pressing recruitment drive for a new striker, but Bruce maintains there is no cause for panic with five and a half weeks to go before the Premier League kick-off.
"Listen, I could go and get 10 strikers tomorrow if I wanted but they've got to meet a certain criteria for what we're looking for," Bruce told the Mail.
"There's no point in us rushing out and buying someone for the sake of it, we've got to be patient.
"There's almost six weeks before the season kicks off and we're willing to wait until the right deal for the right player becomes available. You're bound to get linked with plenty of players but only now are clubs really getting down to business.
"We've got irons in the fire. We obviously wanted Charlie Austin to be our player but we dust ourselves down and move on."
While Bruce has so far been able to land goalkeeper Allan McGregor and defenders Curtis Davies and Maynor Figueroa, joining former loan stars George Boyd and Ahmed Elmohamady in signing permanent deals, City's best efforts to strengthen in attack have proved fruitless.
With no intention to revive a deal for Austin, Bruce admits he must now follow contingency plans in a bid to strengthen.
Celtic's Gary Hooper was the subject of a failed £4.5m bid last month, but there has been no further contact between the clubs.
South African international Katlego Mphela is one supposed target not being considered, while the controversial history of Genk striker Ilombe Mboyo is thought to rule him out.
Reports continue to link City with former West Ham striker and free agent Carlton Cole, but Bruce says any new arrival must fit the club's spending plans.
He added: "It's vitally important that this club doesn't get into another hole.
"Yes, we want to be competitive but I will make sure all our business this summer is within the financial parameters of what we can do.
"That's not to say we're not actively still looking or we're not ambitious. We had £4.5m to spend on a striker but we've got to be sensible."
Bruce's frustration was clear on a day that City confirmed a move for Austin had been abandoned at the 11th hour.
Although the Burnley hitman has been a goalscoring revelation in recent years, a dormant knee problem was considered too big a threat by City's medical staff.
"The kid has unfortunately got a problem with his knee and it's not a risk we felt we could take. You've got a responsibility to your club to take every precaution when you sign a new player and on this occasion we couldn't take the risk," Bruce said.
"It's very disappointing for the lad and for us. He fitted the bill of what we're looking for this summer. He's young, he's hungry and wants that chance in the Premier League.
"He has been the number one target for us and a lot of work has gone to into the deal so it's really frustrating."
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