Do we need to sell a star to thrive?

Much is being made of our recruitment drive this close season as we prepare for some adventures in Europe next term.

And with the success of our transfer dealings over the last few years you can bet that us NUFC fans won't be the only ones watching it either!

What we have now is some fantastic players that occupy maybe eight or nine starting places within the team, backed up by some able deputies and players who, for want of a better phrase have "done a job" along with a few players who just haven't really done a lot a lot. Deadwood they are called.

To improve further we need to make the squad as strong as it can be, although it has been made certain that we will be doing any restructuring from within our own means which makes it pointless speculating about any number of names the clueless press will have us linked with. Eden Hazard, seriously?! The prime example of what I'm taking about!

Anyway to get back on point, we need strengthening, especially given the fact that we will have extra games next season and will hopefully be looking to progress a bit further in all of the cup competitions. That means that we need more quality in depth rather than numbers, so how do we finance that?

Now at this point people will say that Mike Ashley should be willing to spend a bit of his own money. Fair enough, but it's not going to happen, not for a whole transfer window anyway but if you want to believe that then crack on. La la...

Instead let's try looking at the realms of reality and what we know has happened before, and will probably be happening again this summer. We know what the deal is with players,and we know that any one of them will be sold if the offer is of a scale that makes saying no go against what the club is striving to achieve. Players will go, but it will be on our terms and not those of the buying club, unless it's Demba Ba.

So really the question I'm asking is, would you forfeit one of our stars if it meant another round of squad strengthening? In much the same way Andy Carroll's money was spent on improving contracts to retain players and bringing other players in, would you be against that happening again?

I understand that we finshed fifth last season, but it doesn't mean that we should sit back and think we've cracked it, nor does it mean that every player we have is the best that we can realistically get. I do think some of the criticism levelled at times last season was completely over the top and just plain stupid - like not having enough possession. I mean come on... It doesn't mean we can't improve though.

I see a squad with gaping holes in it that need filling. We need our defence beefing up, we'll need extra options in the middle of the park and we'll need more backup strikers with Peter Lovenkrands going and rumours over the future of Leon Best persisting. That will leave us with the two Demba's, Shola and Nile Ranger as a front four. Exactly...

The money to buy these players has to come from somewhere, so would you be willing to sell one for sake of the team?