Steve Cooper addresses the striker’s transfer issue as he sets Leicester City’s recruitment priority

Attacking signings remain the priority at Leicester City, with manager Steve Cooper refusing to rule out signing a new striker this summer.

City lost for the first time in pre-season on Friday night, going down 1-0 to Serie B side Palermo at Chesterfield. While they controlled possession and territory, City did not have an advantage at the top of the pitch for long periods of the game.

To help his attack, Cooper wants transfers. He again acknowledged the need for a new attacking midfielder, with Wilfred Ndidi playing an advanced role on Friday night, and the City boss also hinted he would be open to bringing in a new striker as well, but suggested Jamie Vardy will remain. his main man up.

READ MORE: Leicester City player ratings against Palermo as Mavididi and Ndidi impress in pre-season rout

READ MORE: Leicester City 0-1 Palermo Cooper’s reaction to first defeat of pre-season

Getting signings in as quickly as possible is the focus with just over three weeks to go until the opening game of the Premier League season. City have four players through the door at the moment, but after a flurry of offers at the start of July, they have now had two weeks without a new signing.

“We’ve got to add players and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Cooper said. “Something has to happen. We need players asap. We trust each other to get the right ones and hopefully sooner rather than later.

“I think any part of the pitch where we can really make a difference in our game, we’re open to (signings). I think there are some areas that are more prevalent in this fact.

“That’s what we’re trying to do. But if we can’t do the things we want, I’m not going to complain about it. We will move on.

“But at the same time it would be nice to improve because the step up to the Premier League is a huge one and we have to step up as a team. It is exciting that we are trying to bring in players that we want and if we can get them over the line it will help us in our process to be a competitive Premier League team again.

On whether City are targeting a new striker, Cooper said: “We have to see how Jamie is. He is not with us at the moment. Pato (Daka) here and Tom (Cannon). We are still working on that process.

“I hope Jamie can come back as soon as possible because he looked so sharp before he had that knock. We all know what he can deliver next and I enjoyed working with him.

“That’s where I’m at right now with it. It’s too hard to say we need this and that, because it’s about putting a puzzle together where everyone clicks. We will see.

“(Offensive midfield) I think that’s where I don’t mind saying we need to add. We play players there who wouldn’t naturally play there all the time. This is definitely an area we are looking to add to.

“These players did excellently last season and we need to give them minutes to be ready. That was very much in the plan tonight. I wouldn’t say some of the players have played in their positions that I see them playing in the Premier League, but it’s better to get more players on the pitch who I think will be involved so they can get minutes.”

A first goal in pre-season perhaps underlined the need for new attacking players, although there were decent performances from some of City’s forwards such as Stephy Mavididi and Ndidi. Outside of the final third, Cooper was happy.

He said: “In some ways it was the best I’ve been in pre-season so far. Where it fell short was the final third. We got into a lot of passing and passing positions, but we weren’t as productive as we should be and need to be.

“When we did get chances on goal, we never seemed to get good shots on the ball or we missed headers. For what we’re going, it has to be better. Until the last third, I thought we were good. In the last third, we have to improve.

“We were miles better than against Shrewsbury in our overall game. But we play our overall game to put ourselves in a position to create and score a goal and we didn’t look as clinical or as instinctive as we should have been.”

If City do sign a striker, who do you realistically want it to be? Click HERE to have your say.