No need for Norwich fans to panic…yet

Norwich City’s transfer window hasn’t been as productive as some fans might have liked with Youssouf Mulumbu and Graham Dorrans proving to be the only additions to the squad so far, but despite that, time is still on City’s side.

There’s still the best part of a month until City make their Premier League bow against Crystal Palace, therefore there really is no need to panic just yet.

Speaking of panic though, is there reason to panic at all? This is something I’ve been mulling over in my head recently. If Norwich weren’t to add to their squad between now and August, would it matter all that much?

The consensus at the end of last season was that the Canaries had a Premier League squad. Nobody was looking for a major rebuild. Nothing like that. So considering the starting XI for Palace, is there any position we have where it’s essential we have someone in?

Goalkeeper. No. John Ruddy may have not hit the heights he has of previous seasons, something he admitted himself, but he’s still a very good shot-stopper. He’s a good keeper. He’s proven at Premier League level. Nobody is needed here.

Defence. Arguably, this is probably the priority area and somewhere we do need new faces. Martin Olsson is making a recovery from shoulder surgery and may miss the start of the season. Javi Garrido was released. So left-back wise, we have promising young’un Harry Toffolo who could fill the void or perhaps Steven Whittaker, but a new face there really wouldn’t go a miss. Centre-back wise, we have Sebastien Bassong, Michael Turner, Ryan Bennett and Russell Martin. I’d be surprised if Turner is still around come August 8, and a real top centre-back would be an area I’d look to tick off without question. City have been linked with Virgil van Dijk which would be a superb addition. At right-back, Steven Whittaker was superb towards the end of last season and proved a lot of people wrong, however I’d still look to bring someone in to compete with him at the very least. DeAndre Yedlin has been linked with City and would bring pace to Norwich’s defence which they are lacking, and something that they could be made to pay for in the Premier League.

Midfield. I felt this was City’s strongest area last season and I still feel it is now. It’s a Premier League midfield. Howson. Tettey. Johnson. Hoolahan. Redmond. Dorrans. Mulumbu. They’d be in and around the starting line-ups of most bottom half Premier League teams. We’re probably lacking a left-sided winger, Robbie Brady has been the most public link of Norwich’s transfer window but again, if we hadn’t sewn anything up by the start of the season, I’d be pretty relaxed.

Strikers. Jerome. Grabban. Hooper. They all scored very decent totals last season. They’ll all pose a different problem for Premier League defenders. We’ve been linked with other strikers, but quite honestly I’ve been more enthusiastic for dentist appointments than some of the frontmen with been linked with. Daryl Murphy? Glenn Murray? Dame N’Doye? Please don’t. Kyle Lafferty and Ricky van Wolfswinkel also come into contention so it really is a non-essential area for me.

City’s biggest strength going into this season is Alex Neil. He took to Championship football like a duck to water, or a hot knife slicing through butter. He’s young. He’s talented. He knows what he’s doing. He works hard. He has exceptional levels of analysis and from everything we’ve seen so far, he’s destined for the top.

The lack of transfer business is frustrating, but there’s still time. We’re not far off a complete Premier League squad and in my mind, we’ve already got a Premier League manager.