HARRY Kewell is confident his Latics loan players will understand that they may have to wait their turn on occasion.

Oldham finished the January transfer window with seven temporary deals helping supplement their squad after Serhat Tasdemir arrived from Peterborough on deadline day.

Only five can be named in a match-day squad however meaning two will have to sit on the sidelines for each League Two game.

Coventry midfielder Marcel Hilssner was another loan arrival last month while defender Harry Clarke extended his deal from Arsenal until the end of the season.

Ian Lawlor, Ben Garrity, Alfie McCalmont and Bobby Grant signed season-long deals at the start of the season.

Kewell has vowed to rotate his players whether they are loanees or not and is confident the situation is workable for the remainder of the campaign, other clubs also being in the same boat.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one finding myself in this scenario,” the Latics boss said.

“We’re a club that invite players to come in and help out and some of them have to be loans.

“Yes, we’ve got seven, and I’m sure that the seven loanees will understand that we’ll have to rotate at certain times and when players have the opportunity to play then they’ll play.

“If they’re not playing then they’re just going to have to wait.”

That Latics are not the only club being more reliant on loans than usual is a sign of the times, according to Kewell.

With finances impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, temporary deals can make more economic sense, even if they cause issues when it comes to squad administration.

Wages can be subsidised to varying degrees by parent clubs while there is also no long-term contract commitment, should a move not work out.

“We’re living in tough times and we have to adapt,” said Kewell. “That goes for the players as well.”

Tasdemir could well have been one of those to miss out at Scunthorpe had the game gone ahead given both his limited training time with his new team-mates and his lack of match fitness having not played for Peterborough since the start of December.

Lawlor and Clarke have been mainstays at the back while Hilssner has impressed since his move from the Sky Blues.

Grant has been leading the line following the departure of Danny Rowe. Zak Dearnley and George Blackwood are however nearing returns from injury.

It leaves Garrity and McCalmont who could in theory be competing for one midfield spot for each game, the former having been battling a knock for the past couple of weeks.