Albion boss Chris Hughton has not ruled out another move into the loan market, with the capture of Emmanuel Ledesma accompanied by the blow of losing Solly March.

The arrival of Argentinian right-winger Ledesma from Championship leaders Midddlesbrough, initially for a month, has raised the number of loan players on the Seagulls’ books to five – the maximum number permitted in the matchday squad.

Hughton expects to be without March for “a period of weeks”. The calf injury he sustained in the early stages of the last home game against Nottingham Forest has turned out to be much more serious than initially believed.

That has increased the possibility of Albion dipping into the loan market again to cover all bases, although there are no immediate plans for a further addition.

Hughton said: “At this particular moment that’s five loans we have taken. We know we are still capable of taking additional loans if we want to but then you have, of course, the difficulty of leaving one out.

“But if we felt at any stage that we had to or wanted to or somebody became available that changed that thought process then you have to be certainly open to that. Ledesma wasn’t one to in effect replace Solly. My thinking was that Solly was going to be available to give us good options, because they can both play on both sides. It was for me to have more competition but we’ll see. Hopefully he (March) won’t be too long and then we have got that competition back again.”

Hughton has also left open the possibility of fringe players being loaned out. “We’ve got real competition in the squad,” he said.

“Any players that are around the squad and maybe not getting the involvement they would like then it’s something we are always open to but it’s got to be right for us.”