Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has urged owner Carson Yeung to invest more money into the squad.
Goalkeeper Ben Foster and striker Nikola Zigic are the only new arrivals so far this summer, and McLeish is eager to add Moussa Dembele and Charles N’Zogbia to the fold.
The Scot said: “We are working on one or two things, but there’s no breakthrough. We have to add more quality.
“If you analyse what has happened all we have done is replace two positions in Foster for Joe Hart and Zigic for Christian Benitez. We haven’t enhanced the squad yet, we have replaced players who have left.
“I know Carson Yeung and Peter Pannu have been working hard but we remain short of bodies.
“We need quality to help this group – a couple of forwards and a defender at least. I’ve seen (Tottenham manager) Harry Redknapp tell Daniel Levy, ‘spend big or we will end up flops, and they are in the Champions League.”