At the moment there has to be a question mark about the midfield options within our squad.
The virtually ever present Gallagher has returned to Chelsea, there are rumours that both Kouyate and Luka could leave in the summer and the excellent Mcarthur has missed extensive periods of the last two seasons - a situation that is unlikely to improve for the new season.
Luka hasn’t featured much under Vieira so arguably would not be a huge loss but in my view Kouyate would.
If he leaves, we definitely need to replace his physicality and strength with a similar type of player.
We’re linked with Doucoure ( a player I know little about and a gamble) and O’Brien from Huddersfield who looks decent but again is untried at Premier level.
It could be argued there were similar concerns at the end of last season in central defence with the departure of Dann and Cahill and that didn’t work out too bad with the acquisition of Guehi and Anderson .
I suppose the question is whether we can replicate this success in the summer with acquisitions for midfield if the vacancies arise?

I'd be keen on getting in Doucoure and O’Brien (assuming we can shift Luka and Jairo)

Then I think we start with

Doucoure, Hughes

Eze

With Shluppy, Macca, O’Brien on the bench.

Good post. I've stressed throughtout the season that the midfield is an area that will need attention, lest we be left with a core of Milo, McArthur, Kouyate, Schlupp, Hughes, and Eze. Excluding Eze, the remainder is bang average, if not mediocre on a bad day...
Depending on who leaves in the summer, we would need at least two players of reasonable ability to make up the difference.
That said, as you mention, the acquisition of Guehi and Andersen turned out well, so I have faith.

Kouyate is a terrible passer of the ball and is awful under pressure, but against better teams he adds defensive steel and can slip seamlessly into the backline. A good squad player, but no longer a starter for me except in games where we won't have much of the ball. The question is can a club our size afford to pay high wages to an ageing squad player? Also, I read we are only offering short-term deals to players over 30. I have a feeling Kouyate might head off to Turkey, which was rumoured last summer.

I like Luka, but he needs to go. Same for Jairo.

Schlupp is a great impact player, but I still don't see him as a starter. I'd be happy to see him get another deal though.

McArthur needs to stay because he is a real leader and still offers a lot on the pitch when fit.

I'd say we're crying out for a box to box midfielder, which it sounds like Doucoure fills this criteria. We also need at least one more experienced midfielder or a top up-and-coming player. The question then is how good are the U23s? Are Boateng, Banks or Wells-Morrison ready to step up and push the seniors?

Personally I think Vieira will want two quality holding midfielders to allow Eze to have more of a free role in front of them.

I think people are ruling out the most obvious answer that suits everyone. With new owners I think Chelsea will be reluctant to sell Gallagher and we cannot realistically offer enough money to convince them to but will have a gap in our team without him.

Cannot help but think the most realistic compromise is we loan him for another season.

Depends how you define bang average. A bang average Premier League player suggests you do alright in a team that finishes around mid-table.

Is that not exactly what Hughes, Kouyate and a 34 year old McArthur are? Usually play but rarely outstanding (for McArthur, usually good but rarely fit) in a side that finished 12th?

It's the level of Guimaraes, Moutinho, Neves, Ward-Prowse, Phillips, Eriksen, McGinn, Ndidi that give you a chance of breaking the top 10 - good Premier League players. Eze is the only central midfielder (loose definition) we currently own that would get any game time in the top 8 sides.

Then you have the outstanding level (De Bruyne, Gundogan, Fabinho, Thiago, Jorginho) that manage to make the good ones look comparatively poor.

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
1st June 2010 - D-Day 2 - Survival at Lloyds
7th June 2010 - CPFC2010 exchange contracts.