Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan has hinted there will be money made available for manager Erol Bulut to strengthen his squad in January.
But Tan warned the club "can't pay silly money" or "inflated wages".
Tan was keen to highlight loss-making transfers such as Andreas Cornelius and Josh Murphy bought during the reign of former manager Malky Mackay.
"We trust Erol but we still have to look at budgets, we're not simply going to buy players," Tan said.
Cardiff are 11th in the Championship, two points off the play-off places, as they bid for a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2018-19.
The club have been under a transfer embargo for the last three windows having defaulted on payment of the transfer fee for the late Emiliano Sala.
It is a far cry from Cardiff's 2013-14 campaign in the Premier League, when the Bluebirds splashed a club-record fee of an initial £7.5m on striker Cornelius - who played just 11 games for the club, failing to score, due to injuries and form.
Bluebirds boss Bulut, who took over in June 2023, has said he is hoping for "good news" about his budget for the January transfer window, having so far got by with loans and free agents to increase his playing options.
"Hopefully in January we can bring in some... good players, we have to study you know?" Tan told BBC Sport Wales before Tuesday's 2-2 draw at home to Plymouth.
"Some of our younger players maybe we should give them a chance to go to other clubs so that they can get more football time.
"I think we have a good manager in Erol and I believe we have a very good chance to be in the play-offs hopefully, God willing.
"Surely we want to get promoted, it's tough being in the Championship - I think almost everybody loses money - and it's a terrible business to invest in something that loses money all the time.
"The Premier League guys must help the Championship.
"I think we need to get much more TV money. Now we're getting £3m and we need to get at least another £8-10m more so that the Championship can survive.
"Without the Championship the Premier League won't be that great, every time three [teams] are relegated, three go up - it's new blood coming in.
"Almost 12 years I'm the owner here, I've put lots of money in."
Tan's visit to Cardiff City Stadium for Tuesday's draw with Plymouth was his first since November 2022.
As a result, it was the first home Cardiff game the Malaysian billionaire had attended since appointing Bulut as manager.
The two are planning to meet during Tan's visit to discuss plans for the January transfer window.
"I don't know when but for sure we will have a meeting about January," Bulut said after the Plymouth game.
"We will see. I hope for positive messages in terms of transfers and what we can do in January.
"As I have said before, I don't know what we can do. I hope we can do [business]. We need some players, quality players that can push us and keep the level high.
"We know what kind of players we need. January is always difficult to get players. Nobody wants to give their best players away. I hope we can do and of course there's agreements with the other sides, so it's not just dependent on you."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67823537