Head coach Rob Baxter does not intend making many more signings – as he believes his Exeter Chiefs squad has not peaked yet.
The Sandy Park chief has made three new additions ahead of next season, with the capture of Tom James and Ceri Sweeney from Cardiff and Dave Lewis from Gloucester.
While he is also close to finalising a deal to bring in a lock/flanker from South Africa, Baxter is also looking for a wing as Watisoni Votu is leaving at the end of the campaign.
The Chiefs' head coach may also be moving into the market for a hooker, with Neil Clark expected to move to France in the summer.
Of the 12 Exeter players whose contracts are due to expire at the end of this term, Sireli Naqelevuki is the only one believed to be close to getting a new deal.
Veteran No.8 Rich Baxter is considering retiring from the game, but no announcement has yet been made about his future.
Baxter said one of the big reasons why he is not looking to make too many signings was because of the amount of talented youngsters on the verge of following in Jack Nowell's footsteps and breaking into the first team.
He also believes the players he already has on his books are still improving.
"Sometimes people will look around and think we've not made many signings, but as our own young players develop they're almost like signings," Baxter said.
"Someone like Jack Nowell, compared to a year ago, is like a new signing, but he has been part of what we do for a while.
"It's the same with Henry Slade and the same with Luke Cowan-Dickie.
"Joel Conlon has been involved with the England Under-20s, Sam Hill has been playing really well for the Under-20s and is looking more and more like a Premiership player all the time and you've still got guys like Jack Arnott and Will Carrick-Smith coming though.
"We take very seriously the development of our young players, and when one of them breaks through it is like having a new first-team player arrive.
"We're quite excited about where we can go with this group of players. We feel we've not peaked as a group, we feel we're improving, so we're not wanting to make too many new signings, we want to see how good these players can get."
Votu, 27, arrived at the Chiefs in December – ten months after Baxter looked at the possibility at bringing him to the country.
Following one of the most drawn-out transfer sags in the club's history, the former sevens international will leave Sandy Park after scoring two tries in his three appearances.
"Votu has turned down our contract offer and he's going to leave," said Baxter, with the Fijian expected to join French club Perpignan.
"We're pretty much done [with signings]. With Votu leaving, there's a wing slot there that we need to look to fill. We may be looking for a hooker as well.
"A back-five forward is quite important for us and we're looking to get that sorted, but other than that we feel pretty comfortable with the guys we've got and the guys we've signed.
"We're looking forward to working with a very similar group to the last few years."
