Leyton Orient head coach Justin Edinburgh has refused to rule out dipping into the transfer market to strengthen his squad in the wake of the long-term injury sustained by James Dayton.

The winger suffered a knee cartilage tear during the O’s defeat at Boreham Wood and is expected to face a prolonged absence after undergoing surgery on Monday.

And Edinburgh believes that while the squad is good enough to cope without him, he will consider adding to his squad in January.

“First and foremost, he’s going to be a massive loss to us. He’s an excellent player, he’s been instrumental in my time here, but we’ve got as good a replacement in James Brophy. No doubt about that,” Edinburgh said.

“We’re always looking. At the moment we’re happy with what we’ve got but I’m sure that we’ll have to strengthen in that area as we look to progress.”

With just two defeats in 24 league games, Orient are sitting pretty as they eye a return to League Two but are understandably conscious that there is little margin for error.

Only Salford City’s defeat to Chesterfield a week ago prevented the east Londoners from being replaced at the summit of the National League and Dayton’s injury has made the subject of recruitment a more pressing concern.

The performance of Brophy however, albeit against lower league opposition in Beaconsfield Town, served a welcome reminder of the strength in depth at Edinburgh’s disposal.

He scored once and set up another to help Orient through to the second round of the FA Trophy and has proven before that he is able to fit seamlessly into the side when called upon.

With just four points separating the top four in the league it seems likely that the club will look to add to what they have rather than sell.

However, the rumour mill has been in full force after reports linked Macauley Bonne with a high-profile move away from Brisbane Road.

Edinburgh though, while non-committal, believes talk linking Bonne with Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest is unfounded at this stage.

“I think it’s speculation,” Edinburgh said. “We’ve heard nothing as a club and that’s the honest answer to that.

“Am I surprised? No. We’re top of the league, we’ve got some fantastic young players here that are going to catch people’s eye. There’s no doubt about that.

“I don’t see us as a selling club but I’m not silly enough to sit here and say well he won’t or no one will because at the end of the day every player has a price. It doesn’t matter what player you are, at what level, but I would expect that no one will leave this club.”

Orient’s attentions now turn to the visit of Chesterfield on Saturday as they look to get back on the winning trail in the final league game before Christmas.

The O’s face a testing run of five games in 15 days over the festive period and Edinburgh has confirmed preparations for the January transfer window will continue in the coming days.

He said: “I’m sitting down with the board, myself and Martin Ling. We’ve had discussions this week and we’ll have a board call with the board this week and see where we’ll look to improve.”