Lee Johnson says Barnsley need to be more 'brave' in their recruitment policy and stop 'digging themselves out of trouble' with loan and short-term deals.

The Reds have had a large turnover of players this season on short-term deals and loan spells and could even beat last season's record of using 44 players. Yesterday Preston North End midfielder Josh Brownhill joined on a 28-day loan and, if he plays tomorrow, he will become the 33rd player used in the season.

Reece Wabara, who was signed on a deal until early January has now left the club and Barnsley failed to sign influential Ben Pearson with him joining Preston and making Brownhill available.

Johnson says he feels player recruitment, on longer-term deals, would allow him to have a stronger and more stable squad of players to work with. This is heightened by the new transfer laws which are expected to be brought in ahead of next season meaning emergency loans will no longer be allowed.

He said: "With next year in mind we do need to start planning longer-term and it's going to take bravery from everybody involved to do that. I do think we have got the systems in place now and, over the course of the year, we need to be a bit braver and bolder with recruitment. Next year you can't just keep digging yourselves out of trouble with short-term and emergency loans because the windows are changing.

"You are going to have to commit to a group of 15, 16, 17 first teamers and then an underbelly of exciting youth. In my opinion we need to start focusing on that now for next year.  It's about the quality not the quantity. You must have the quality and that, for me, is the most important thing.

"We want to get 14 or 15 quality League One players plus our bright young stars behind them pushing them."

Johnson says signing players on short-term deals is something they have had to do this season. He added: "You might get a player who doesn't want to sign longer than six months because he puts himself in the shop window to then go back to a level that he thinks he should be at. You might say then 'don't sign that player' but the hope is that they love the loan that much that you can keep them."

According to Johnson, the lure of Championship football persuaded Pearson to join North End on a two-and-a-half-year deal. "I think Ben is ready for the Championship," admitted Johnson.

"We all hoped it would be with us. Had we been around the top of the league, he might have thought about staying but footballers want to play as high as they can for as long as they can. It's a short career. It'll be Championship wages he's on, I'm sure. They're comfortable in that division at the moment and he'll play."

Signing a striker and a midfielder remains a priority for Johnson with teenager James Bree expected to now play in Wabara's place. Getting an experienced midfielder in is proving tough. Johnson added: "It's difficult to get the experience because it's not available. Surprisingly, midfielders have been the big issue this window.

"It's difficult to get the ones with two or three hundred league games because they are either on good wages and not willing to drop or the loaning club won't take a smaller percentage on the recovery of their wages. We are narrowing our market as well because we need that Johnstone's Paint Trophy eligibility if possible.

"We've definitely spoken to every club in the Premier League, Championship, top half of League One and Scottish Premiership. We're out there and fighting to try and bring them in."

Wabara has now joined Wigan Athletic which will allow Bree to develop, says Johnson.

"James is ready to go now. It's a big time for him to step up and crack on. In the last five or six games Reece's defending has been so much better.

"It's a bit frustrating because he's so young still but I think, had we not had Bree, we would have gone a bit more gung-ho earlier to keep him."

Barnsley have ended their interest in three foreign trialists including Norwegian international Thomas Drage who Johnson felt was too similar to his other attacking options. Young left-back George Smith joined League Two Crawley on loan last weekend and played as they beat Cambridge United 1-0. It leaves Aidy White as the only senior left-back.

Johnson told the Chronicle: "If you don't get an injury, it's a great decision, if you do get one it's a bad one."