ALBION boss Gus Poyet is no nearer to ending his exhaustive search for a striker.

And that means he will have to continue asking too much of Craig Mackail-Smith and Ashley Barnes.

The transfer window for permanent deals shuts in a week and Poyet is still struggling to land the right player within his budget, in terms of both a transfer fee and wages.

He told The Argus: “It's a matter of budget and budget includes a transfer fee. If it is quality you want then there is a transfer fee. There is not too much quality for free and if it is a transfer then the wages are too big as well.

“Again, this is not a complaint. It is where we are and I’m happy with it. If not I would be out already, playing golf. But that is the situation, it’s clear.

“We went to Hull and had on the bench Dunky (Lewis Dunk), Calde (Inigo Calderon ) and Marcos Painter. I’ve been screaming for a year that five on the bench is a disgrace and now that I have got seven I put on three defenders?

“If I was at the Football League I would send a letter to Mr Poyet saying stop complaining.”

Poyet currently has just three strikers in his first team squad: Mackail-Smith, Barnes, pictured right, and Norwegian rookie Torbjorn Agdestein.

He said: “Right now the problem is clear. We have the chance to put the pressure on Toby, which I think is not right.

“Toby can give us a big hand. He can be part of the squad and keep learning and getting stronger, then he is going to get minutes.

“The difference is that then you would normally have two strikers on the bench, the same or even better than the ones on the pitch, to give defenders who have already played for 60 or 70 minutes a problem.

“We don’t have that, so we are asking Macca and Ash to play 90 minutes every game and they need to be spot-on to do all the hard work at the beginning, then to finish the game as well. It’s too much.

“There are teams that play a different kind of football to us and if it doesn’t work with the strikers then after 60 minutes they take three off and put three on.

“We don’t, we play differently, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need two strikers on the bench. We do. That is what everybody wants and we cannot get it.”

Poyet was interested in fellow Uruguayan Sebastian Ribas earlier in the summer but he joined Monaco on a season-long loan.

Buying abroad remains an option but Poyet said: “The problem is the price and the risk is bigger.

“We have got a certain amount of money to spend in the budget and it’s not easy, especially for the striker.”

Poyet’s attacking options are increased for Barnsley’s visit tomorrow by Will Buckley’s recovery from the hamstring trouble which has sidelined him from the first three matches, although Vicente is still bothered by an inflamed thigh tendon and is unlikely to feature.

“It will be great for us to have Bucker at least on the bench,” Poyet said. “We are learning how to play for Buckley and for Macca. That is why Macca is doing great for us now.

“We are a better team in my opinion, even if results don’t show that. We have got better players who understand the game and play the ball in a different way to Macca and to Buckley.

“Now we need the other part, to finish a move. We’ve had all kinds of chances, headers in both games, shots from long distances, rebounds from the goalkeeper, one against one and we didn’t control the ball, good set plays.

“It needs to change, it has to.”