Exeter City manager Matt Taylor say the club will not lavishly spend in the January window, despite some transfer windfalls.
The fan-owned club had to drastically cut its wage bill over the summer after an overspend in the 2024-25 season and relegation to League Two.
Last season, the club had to make some staff redundant and needed about £600,000 in loans from owners, the Exeter City Supporters' Trust, to stay afloat.
They were helped by a lucrative FA Cup tie with Manchester City, and the early payment of a sell-on fee from their former striker Jay Stansfield's move from Fulham to Birmingham City.
But the Grecians could earn as much as £2m from former academy player Ollie Watkins' £51m move from Aston Villa to Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal under Fifa's solidarity payment mechanism.
Exeter also sold strikers Jayden Wareham and Kieran Wilson, to Wycombe Wanderers and Hull City respectively, late in the transfer window.
"I think the club's pretty set on the plan for this season and moving forward, and that's a little bit of protection involved in that, a little bit of an understanding of the mistakes we've made in the last few years," Taylor told BBC Radio Devon.
"Also the belief that a lot of these players will improve over time, naturally, so we don't want a bulky squad, we just want a strong enough squad."
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Taylor returned to the club for a second spell as manager in March, following Gary Caldwell's departure to Wigan Athletic, having previously guided an Exeter side with a number of academy graduates to promotion from League Two in 2022.
Taylor's young squad have had a tricky start this season but have taken seven points from their past three matches and boast the best defensive record in the fourth tier.
He is hopeful the squad will continue to improve and will only need a handful of additions when the winter transfer window opens.
"The great thing about January for me is we only need two or three, but two or three real quality players," he said.
"We don't need the numbers now, we just need real quality in certain areas of the pitch, and we hope generally that we don't lose many in January, because then they'll need replacing and that's a really difficult thing to do.
"But now we've got the squad there, we just need to add the real detail and the real quality.
"That costs a little bit of money, and January is an inflated market, so I don't expect there to be too much business done in January, but I do think by the time it comes around, we'll know a little bit more about what this team are capable of."