Southampton manager Alan Pardew says he is desperate to sign a new centre-half before their first season in League One begins on Saturday.
Saints have relied mainly on Chris Perry and Ollie Lancashire during pre-season so far.
The experienced Wayne Thomas is out of action with a back problem.
Pardew told BBC Radio Solent: "Without Thomas, it's a bit of a worry that we haven't got enough height at centre-back to deal with high balls."
Saints lost 3-0 at QPR in one of their final warm-up matches before the club kick off the League One campaign at home to Millwall on Saturday.
The club are also short on strikers after last week's departure of Stern John to Crystal Palace, with Pardew admitting it is unlikely that Polish internationals Grzegorz Raziak and Marek Saganowski will start the season.
The Saints boss is hopeful of adding two new faces before Saturday, but he admits that his squad is short on numbers.
"I don't feel we are ready, but I'm hoping we can still get a result against Millwall and get our season up and running.
"We have some very good footballers, albeit young. We are still going to be a force in this division, but obviously I want us to be the prominent force and we've got a little bit of work to do before we're there."
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