And then there were two

If the rumours about Erik Lamela to Inter are true, that would leave only two of the not so magnificent seven left at the club. If we didn't already know it before, the transfer policy in the summer of 2013 was nothing short of disastrous. Suddenly, almost overnight, with tonnes of money that Levy knew was coming from the Bale sale now available, we could spend at will.

Gone was the policy of signing up the best young British players or taking risks on talented but enigmatic players from abroad - worked with Modric, VDV and Berba, didn't work so well with Pav (although he definitely had his moments), KPB, Kaboul, Gomes and Dos Santos. In the end, the new, rushed policy was flawed. Replacing a world-class player with quantity not quality didn't work out too well, as Liverpool also found out last season.

To be fair, none of the players we signed were bad players. Soldado scoring on his Villarreal debut shows that. Capoue seems to be doing a decent job for Watford; Paulinho, Lamela and even Vlad showed flashes of potential. But none of them were suited to this league. Some of them were painfully unsuited - in particular Paulinho and Lamela. (I think Soldado, with better service and fewer knocks to his confidence, might still have come good).

Lamela is an interesting one. The ability is clearly there - he showed that in patches with us and even more so in that season with Roma before we signed him. But in the two years he's been with us he's only shown that quality on a handful of occasions. The majestic rabona goal, the strike against Burnley, a few decent assists against QPR, a touch of class to set up Paulinho's goal against Cardiff.

Too little return for the outlay. As usual, there were mitigating circumstances to explain his uninspiring performances. Not just the large fee around his neck, but injuries, not speaking the language, problems settling in a different country. He's a young man, not a robot, and it's clear he's one of the more delicate souls who needs to be treated with kid gloves. His tepid performances weren't through lack of effort - if nothing else, his work-rate was commendable, even if that meant him running around like a headless chicken the whole time. And, like Soldado, his attitude has always been spot on.

But he didn't play after Christmas in his first season (Sherwood's tough, no-nonsense style didn't seem to help) and he was in and out of the side last year. This season he has again had very little impact on any of the game he's featured in. He's an immensely frustrating player to watch. All legs and arms. Not strong enough in the tackle. Guilty of giving the ball away and not tracking back, too full of tricks, flicks and gimmicks. The amount of times he was partly responsible for a goal last year were staggering. I remember errors against Arsenal and Chelsea in particular.

I'm no fan of Rodgers or Liverpool, very far from it, but at least they acted quickly to rectify the mistakes of last season. They signed proven Premier League quality players and they shipped out some of the players that hadn't worked out for them. They've not exactly looked convincing, but they've got 7 points on the board.

Under Levy, we're very good at waiting until the last minute to act. It's incredibly frustrating at times, but it's the way he works. He revels in negotiation, squeezing every last penny out of other clubs while trying to nab bargains - VDV and Lloris spring to mind - at the eleventh hour. We needed to act early, but that was never going to happen. We might still get Son, Berahino and Wanyama, but these players might too take time to settle.

Having said that, we've been slow starters for a number of years now and it's not affected our finishing position. I don't buy into the idea that we won't finish in the top 6. We got two points from AVB's first three games and went on to get our record ever points tally. I think we'll be alright, once we get that first win on the board. I think that will come against Everton. Last season that really got our season going, hopefully it will do the same again.

Either way, we are still suffering the ill-effects of summer 2013. The Championship Manager approach to transfers didn't work. The alternative - Levy stalling, negotiating and manipulating - isn't ideal, but it's better than repeating the mistakes of the past.