The Premier League season starts on Saturday but Norwich City’s need for defensive reinforcement remains with just three weeks left of the summer transfer window.

The Canaries’ attacking options look to be refreshed and reasonably well set for the challenge, following the arrival of Josh Sargent and with Christos Tzolis seemingly close to becoming summer signing number eight.

That could yet lead to players such as Przemek Placheta, Onel Hernandez or Jordan Hugill moving on but the bigger priority is in defensive areas, according to our Canaries correspondents on the latest episode of the Pink Un Podcast.

Paddy Davitt, David Freezer and Connor Southwell were at St James’ Park on Saturday to see an under-strength City squad beaten 3-0 by Newcastle as pre-season concluded and convened to review that game - and look ahead to Saturday’s Carrow Road clash with Liverpool.

“It’s about trying to solve full-back, central midfield and centre-back, if they can get one that substantially improves them,” said Southwell.

“Increasingly it looks like that centre-back may well be the loan route, if anything at all.

“Of course, they’ve got a few more weeks to fill out all of those positions. The link with Brandon Williams, who is a left-back, has been very quiet.

“At centre-back we’ve already had the Kristoffer Ajer stuff (when Brentford met Celtic’s valuation) and the central midfield, we can’t fully close the door on Ollie Skipp but he’s been heavily involved in Spurs’ pre-season.

“Obviously, they have a wealth of really good midfielders - Harry Winks, Sissoko, Ndombele, Hojbjerg are all still there - so that’s a lot of players that he’s going to have to come through.

“So, who knows?! There could still be a possibility that he returns, as unlikely as I think it is at this stage.

“They already will have looked elsewhere but will maybe need to step up their efforts.”

The end of Skipp’s loan coincided with the departure of Alex Tettey after nine seasons with Norwich, leaving City without a recognised defensive midfielder.

Summer signings Billy Gilmour and Pierre Lees-Melou do have defensive elements to their game but are seen more as box-to-box midfielders with quality in possession, competing with the energetic duo of Kenny McLean and Lukas Rupp.

At full-back, Sam Byram being unable to return from his long-term injury problems during pre-season has left Daniel Farke with just youngster Bali Mumba as cover for Max Aarons and Dimitris Giannoulis, with Byram still trying to work his way back into contention.

While at centre-back, Ben Gibson has returned from Injury but Grant Hanley was one of 11 players forced into isolation by a Covid-19 outbreak, thwarting his return from injury.

Irish teen Andrew Omobamidele was alongside Christoph Zimmermann in central defence for much of pre-season, with the German also having injury issues during recent campaigns.

It was a defensive injury crisis that knocked the 2019-20 season off course after a bright start so it always seemed likely that another centre-back would arrive, even with Omobamidele’s continued emergence and Jacob Sorensen’s ability to play at the back.

But as Farke’s squad returns to close to its full powers this week, it remains difficult to predict the team and formation that the Canaries will deploy against Liverpool.

“I think Hanley will come in and Zimmermann will drop out and then if you’re going with a three, Omobamidele plays,” said Davitt, as questions sent in by listeners were answered.

“If it’s a two, then it’s going to be Gibson and Hanley. It’s about reducing the amount of variables for this particular game.

“So at this stage, Farke doesn’t know which players are going to declare themselves fit and available.

“But if everything went for him, I could see him going with a three, of Hanley, Omobamidele and Gibson with the two wing-backs.

“Because then, you would hope that, yes, it’s a three but it could conceivably be a five and at least that would solidify them a little bit.

“But then it’s the two, or one, in front and what that looks like because I don’t think Gilmour and Lees-Melou, if they’re in a side that come under pressure, that they necessarily have the skills to protect in the Ollie Skipp or Alex Tettey mould.

“So that’s a concern but, the honest answer at this stage is: we don’t know. It depends on player availability.”

- You can listen to the full discussion in the latest episode of the Pink Un Podcast above and don’t forget to hit the subscribe button

- Do you think City still need a new full-back, centre-back and defensive midfielder? Let us know in the comments below

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