The Sky Blues boss said he had identified a defender and an attacker to strengthen their squad ahead of today’s closure of the January transfer window.

Former Adelaide United and Central Coast Mariners winger Fabio Ferreira, who is a free agent after leaving Malaysian club PKNS, appears likely to be one of the players to be added.

“Fabio has been with us now for 10 days. He’s training with us,” Arnold said.

“We’re down to the last 12 hours of the transfer window. I expect to sign two players today and tomorrow, or the day after, to strengthen this squad considerably in numbers.”

Sydney have the 2018 AFC Champions League coming up, which will stretch their squad, but Arnold said he had plenty of options to consider over the next 24 hours.

“I hardly slept last night. My phone was going all night from agents all around the world with players putting forward,” he said.

“Everyone wants to come to Sydney FC. It’s a matter of managing the salary cap obviously and making sure we’ve got the money.

“With the loan system that’s in place as well, you can loan players. We’ve got a busy evening up until midnight when we’ll make those decisions.

“We definitely will be adding one or two players.”

Portuguese winger Ferreira, 28, spent five years in the A-League and is eligible for citizenship but does not yet have an Australian passport.