A new striker and a new centre-back number one priority for Alex Neil

With now under six weeks of the transfer window remaining and Norwich City having made just the two new additions, it can only be hoped that these coming weeks bring a large amount of activity from Alex Neil and the City board. Whilst I wouldn’t be averse to improvements being made in pretty much every area across the pitch, there are two certain positions that need to be addressed with a greater urgency:

Centre-back

The more pessimistic, or perhaps realistic, Norwich fans among us would argue that we still only really have one high-quality centre-back: Timm Klose. Sebastien Bassong is probably the least popular player at the club following the string of errors that characterised his last campaign, Michael Turner’s best days appear to be behind him and has been an outcast ever since Alex Neil’s arrival, whilst, although liked by some, the jury is still out on Ryan Bennett. The Russell Martin at centre-back experiment is hopefully over but if we fail to address the position in the coming weeks then I fear it may well not be. City have been dying out for a couple of strong centre-backs for what seems like a life-time and it is almost criminal how the issue has been seemingly overlooked for so long. January finally brought us one such centre-back in Klose, but we still need one, if not two, more of a similar standard if we are going to improve upon last season’s defensive woes. Relying solely on Klose will not be enough, as last season proved - his injury in April all but consigning us to relegation. In recent days we have been linked to Blackburn’s Scottish international Grant Hanley, but the centre-back has just today reportedly agreed to join City’s rivals Newcastle United in a deal worth in excess of £5.5million. This is another huge statement of intent from Rafa Benitez’s side, who have now spent circa £40 million during the window - compared to Norwich’s £2.5 million - and it can only be hoped that we have plenty of alternative targets lined up and ready to sign, otherwise we risk being left behind.

Striker

Possibly even more urgent that the need for a new centre-back is the need for a new striker. At the moment all we have in the senior ranks is Cameron Jerome, so impotent last season, and the pair of Kyle Lafferty and Ricky van Wolfswinkel who I doubt either of will still be at the club come September. Steven Naismith represents an alternative option but in an ideal world he will be playing slightly deeper in more of an attacking midfield role. Rising through the youth ranks is Carlton Morris, who could potentially offer an alternative option but just 7 goals in the SPL during his loan spell at Hamilton last season suggests he probably isn’t ready to make a significant impact just yet - if he ever will be. To put it more simply; our forward line is worryingly weak. There have been slightly tenuous links with Ross McCormack and Britt Assombalonga and, whilst these two in particularly are unlikely to join City, bringing in a proven Championship goalscorer of their ilk is essential. Unfortunately such players do not grow on trees and Delia will have to get out her cheque-book or our scouting team will have to unearth a hidden gem. Whichever it is, it needs to be done - and fast.