The spending power of some clubs in League Two has been labelled “mental” by Wanderers boss Gareth Ainsworth as he admitted that the club’s summer recruitment drive is nearly complete.

Ainsworth has looked on with a vested interest as League Two newcomers Yeovil and Notts County have made 15 new signings apiece, while Leyton Orient have splashed the cash on nine new recruits.

In an attempt to mount a promotion push, Portsmouth, Cambridge and Luton, sides that all finished below Blues last season, have attempted to bridge the gap by making a series of eye-catching signings.

Luke O’Nien became Wycombe’s seventh capture of the window, meaning there’s room for one more addition in order to meet Ainsworth’s target of having 18 permanent players on the books before the first league game against York on August 8 – and he explained that finances may mean that it would be the last permanent arrival.

“It’s almost maximum of what I can have. It’s not a minimum, definitely not. I think that 18 was the target, it’s still the target: 18 permanents for the first game,” he said.

“We’ve already added Michael Harriman as a loan and I’m sure there will be chances to add again in other positions. I’m not expecting to bring many more than 18 in; we just haven’t got the finances for it.

“Last year we were similar and we proved everyone wrong. All the people that didn’t think Wycombe would do anything last year may give us a bit more of a chance this year, but I still think we’ll be underdogs in the league.”

Loan players will be “crucial” to the Chairboys’ campaign, like they were last season, and the Blues boss has previously stated that he expects players to be looking for temporary moves when they find out they’re not first choice at their parent clubs.

But, as is the case with signing players on permanent deals, Wycombe will face competition in the loan market from a host of other clubs in their division.

Ainsworth said: “There’s so much money being spent by some teams it’s mental – the rumours, the stories going round from other teams and what they’re able to pay.”

“Every player I’ve gone for this season has had another two or three League Two teams in for them who can pay more than us.

“We’ll be up against it, but we were in that position the whole of last year and I felt we dealt with that really well and we’re up for a fight.”

Despite not being able to compete with the spending power of some of Wycombe’s rivals, Ainsworth is “pleased” with the new faces and believes the club have “signed well” this summer.

“We can’t just go out, cast the net, sign five players and hope that two are ok,” he said. “Every single one has got to fit in with what we do and the way we are, and the money we pay them is precious – right down to the last pound.

“There’s no way I can be frivolous with the club’s money and it’s really important that myself and my coaching staff get it right with recruitment.

“So far so good, but it’s early days, there’s no over confidence here, I know how tough League Two is we’ll be doing all we can in the next few days training to make sure we’ve got everything covered and that we’ve been through everything we want to go through before the first ball is kicked in the league.”