I would say that we need :

1 right back
2 cdm's
1 cam
1 striker

in order of most needed :

1 cdm
1 cam
1 right back
1 right mid
1 striker

basically this is my thoughts :

we have reidwald, mcarthur and milivojevic. Mili doesn't seem fast enough and mcarthur is getting older. leaves us with just reidwald for the cdm role.

I would buy a cdm and put that with reidwald.

loan in or buy a cam to go with those two. could be gallagher from chelsea.

At right back ward is capable for now but again a loan or a buy.

At right mid we have olise or ayew that can play there. I'd either buy or loan 1 player. Doesnt have to be a top top player as I would assume he would be backup to olise.

Strikers we have tekkers and mateta, young kid Omalibu.

I'd bring in one striker to compete with the first teamers tekkers and mateta. This could possibly wait until jan. Basically i'd say we are 2 or 3 players away still from what we still need.

To go from 13 out to needing possibly only 2 or 3 players more is a hell of an achievement.

Looking forward to the start of the season.

Personally, in an ideal world, i think we need left back cover/ somebody to challenge a first team place with Mitchell. One Injury to him and we are then throwing Hannam in at the deep end or using Schlupp or Riedewald there. neither of them personally fill me with confidence when playing left back however.

A box to box midfield player to link defence and attack and to break forward when possible, as well as helping with the high press we have been looking to adopt in pre-season. Joe Wilock would be ideal here on loan however believe we will get Gallagher.

A right sided winger would also be very ideal considering the injury to Eze and Olise, an out and out right footer with pace to get to the byline and get balls into Benteke.

Finally, again in an dream world i'd also like a first team striker to mix it up with benteke. Mateta could well be this person however we need to watch how many times we play him as i believe he has a clause in his loan deal that means we have to sign him if he plays a certain amount of games, and from what i have seen so far i'm not overly convinced just yet that he is that man. Edouard is rumoured and with Celtic now out of Champions League it may be worth a bid. P.S vieira is French. Clutching at straws here though.

Assuming we have Ward and Clyne signed, I don't think right-back is an issue. We need to make a decision on whether Ferguson will or won't return to full fitness before we invest further there. Furthermore, Mitchell is two-footed so he also gives us some cover at RB. For me, the most interesting short-term question is Hannam. Is he as good as the hype suggests he may be? Can he translate an impressive season in the age groups last season to being a PL performer this season? If he is the real deal, Mitchell at RB and Hannam at LB become an option.

We do need a CDM. That is a priority. As others have said, Luka lacks speed and MacArthur is ageing. Kouyate may well see more playing time in this role from now on. I expect both incomings and outgoings here over the remainder of this window and the next one.

CAM we may need one, but that sort of player is expensive and we have some young talent already in the house. I think we may well see someone like Scott Banks given an opportunity to win that shirt meaning we can keep our financial powder dry until January if he or someone else doesn't prove themselves. So yes, we need a CAM but we may not need to buy one. Time will tell. It's a priority, yes, but it may not need to be resolved in the transfer market.

We do need a striker, badly. Along with CDM, this is the key thing I think we need to acquire right now. We have some serious young talent for this role (Omilabu, Street, etc.) but realistically, it is not yet ready. Personally, I am not convinced by Mateta and while I'm happy we re-signed Benteke, there's not a lot behind him. Ayew is a great depth player and invaluable as a last 20 minutes holding on to a lead sort of player but he's not really a born goalscorer. One approach to a striker would be spunking big money on real competition for Benteke. Another would be to sign a proven, high potential, young-ish Championship/League One goalscorer at a more reasonable fee and hope to find a pound-shop Vardy.

All-in-all, we've solved our most pressing problems with Guehi, Olise, and Andersen. Two more would do for me; CDM and striker and then see where we are in January. Of those two positions, CDM is the more critical need because we now have goals in the team (with everyone fit) beyond striker (Olise, Zaha, Eze, etc.) but we don't have much at CDM at all.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

Good question. The answer is probably 4 or 5 but I’m expecting another 3 at best. A lot’s been made of how many players we’ve lost but the reality is that two of them were goalkeepers, two of them were permanent crocks and two were past their sell by date so it’s nowhere near as bad as the media have been saying.

Interesting assessment Syd. 'Need' is a strong word. For me we need a box-to-box player and a possibly a wide player. My understanding, though, is that the club are looking to bring in 3 more players this window, nanely:
1. Gallagher on loan
2. a young American striker
3. an unknown but possibly a wide player given our previous interest in Lookman and Madueke.

With Olise and Eze to come back from injury at some point we already have our AMs. Also, PV may decide to use Rak-Sakyi/Banks as the wide option, meaning that the unknown 3rd player may be for a different position altogether.

Time will tell.

In any event, a great window so far.

What we need to remember is that every pound spent now is one we can't spend in coming windows.

In addition, too many new players too quickly almost never fails to cause grief.

For these reasons I'd say one attacking midfielder on loan to cover Eze (and perhaps grant time for Olise to grow into the team) will do for now. Then give it all a chance to grow and see what's needed most in time rather than guessing now.