I got to be honest, I see the obvious importance of a CM/CDM, but personally I am a bit surprised that is being appeared as far more crucial than RB. We lost our best RB in the summer, it was already incredibly patchwork, considering that player was months away from 40. Obviously nobody can say for certain how much resources we have, but dubious speculation aside suggests the funds are likely slimmer post Dibling and the rest of the additions at this point in the window.
I understand the middle of the park is thin, Iroegbunam raw and injury prone to date, Garner leaves a lot to be desired, and Idrissa is on the back end (that said Armstrong has impressed me more than I thought he would). It's not ideal but there are options there, and maybe with the exception of our new bolstered wings our CB's and Keeper enter the season as our backbone to results. Factor the positional depth and I think the loan market is likely deeper at midfield than at the backs. Its makeshift but I think we can find some cover at the position from a club wants to clear his wages at least to January.
IDK I just enter really concerned at Right Back. Maybe Patterson has put more of it together but considering last year he seemed destined for a move, has never hit developmental benchmarks and just is never fit, I stay very suspicious and concerned. Bless Seamus but the legs have gone or at best can offer a median 60 min. O'Brien has done his part to cover but if you told me he was being done over by October, I wouldn't be shocked.
And factoring the shallowness of the position globally I'd expect its going to take some funds to fill even for median output. I don't see who is loaning even cover level EPL standard fullbacks more so than midfielders. I think priority one should be a right back before the window closes.