Is Patrick Vieira happy with Crystal Palace’s transfer business so far? Eagles boss answers that question
Patrick Vieira has answered whether he would be happy with Crystal Palace’s transfer business if the window ended with no further incomings.
The Eagles have signed Chris Richards from Bayern Munich to provide competition and cover to Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen. The 22-year-old defender can play at right-back and will also allow Vieira to switch to a back three if needed.
Their big summer arrival was signing central midfielder Cheick Doucoure from Lens. The £20million arrival replaced the outgoing Cheikhou Kouyate and has started every Premier League game under Vieira since joining.
Picture : Keith Gillard
Sam Johnstone also joined on a free transfer following his release from West Brom. And the South Londoners also beat off competition from Manchester United to sign 18-year-old winger Malcolm Ebiowei after his contract with Derby County expired.
The transfer window slams shut on Thursday, September 1, at 23:00.
“The question would be: ‘Could we do better? Maybe, yes,” said Vieira when asked if he would be satisfied with Palace’s transfer window if it shut today [Monday].
“But sometimes you’re contacting players, and players may not want to come, or players may be too expensive for us.
“We have to understand who we are as a football club and what we can spend in the market. [We have to] find the right players who take us to a different level – [players] who can improve the squad.
“When you put all these elements together, then it becomes really difficult, of course.
“I am satisfied with the group of players that we have. We have good players who are honestly working hard and are committed to what we need to do.
“I believe we are short on numbers regarding the number of games coming up. There are players who last year did not play a lot, so there is always a [question over their] physical condition and how they will get back playing game after game.
“We have a couple of injuries, and we don’t know how they will get back or when they will get back, so when you’re a little bit short on options, it’s important for us to have those options.
“If not, we will deal with what we have – I believe we have enough in the house to compete.”
DOUCOURE PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
MAIN PICTURE: PA
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