Michael Bailey Steve Perryman has admitted replacements are lined up should Exeter City sell any of their prized assets this month - including Norwich City target Danny Seaborne.

Michael Bailey

Steve Perryman has admitted replacements are lined up should Exeter City sell any of their prized assets this month - including Norwich City target Danny Seaborne.

The Grecians' director of football is likely to be a busy man during this month's transfer window and, after snubbing a “derisory” bid from the Canaries in October for the 22-year-old centre-back, it is likely Seaborne's future will be one of those up for discussion.

Seaborne is out of contract in the summer but Exeter would still be entitled to a fee for their youth product because he has not reached his 24th birthday.

However, with City boss Paul Lambert openly acknowledging his desire to sign a central defender this month and Championship side Leicester said to have joined the hunt for Seaborne, Perryman and Exeter manager Paul Tisdale are already looking at replacements should there be January exits from St James Park.

“I sort of hope that no one comes in for our players this month, but I get a list of which clubs are watching us every week and there is a steady flow of clubs watching us,” Perryman told the Express and Echo.

“In the last few years our improvement has come off the back of selling our best players. The manager is good at being able to replace what we have lost and I think that is going to be needed. I know he is working hard behind the scenes to make sure we have got good players to come in, albeit we can't spend a transfer fee.

“Players like the way we play - be it players coming down from the Championship or ones coming up from League Two. You never know where this good football takes you.

“The defeat at Bristol Rovers - good football day, bad result day. Somewhere down the line that is going to work in our favour. There is going to be a player at that game or playing in it who came away thinking Exeter are some team. Our manager is getting a name for producing good football teams and, while we continue do that, we will be all right.”

Carrow Road should get a chance to see Seaborne in action first hand on Saturday, with Exeter taking the long trip east to face a Norwich side looking for their 10th win in 12 League One outings. The centre-half is expected to start the weekend fixture, with the Grecians hovering two points above the relegation zone and having won just once in seven matches.

But despite their current struggles, Tisdale has conceded he would not be surprised if clubs swoop for his players considering the progress his side has made in recent seasons - including successive promotions from the Conference and League Two.

As well as Seaborne, Exeter playmaker Ryan Harley is another who could be heading out of Devon, with Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle and “several” League One clubs eyeing the 24-year-old midfielder - something that may be sped up by yesterday's arrival of Bristol City midfielder David Noble.

However, with Lambert full to bursting with midfield options it is unlikely Norwich are one of the clubs keen on Seaborne's team-mate.