Team needs: 3 more moves Valencia should make in transfer window

Valencia is at something of a crossroads this season, having endured a tumultuous 2015-16 campaign as the plaything of British pundit Gary Neville.

Embarrassed at the Mestalla Stadium time and time again, a younger-skewing Los Che - spearheaded by manager Pako Ayestaran - enter the 2016-17 season with both a chip on their collective shoulders and a renewed look on the offensive end. Portugal winger Nani joined the club out of Fenerbahce, and the Euro 2016 winner adds much needed veteran presence at Valencia.

His arrival coincides with the departure of Sofiane Feghouli, who joined West Ham on a free transfer, with right full-back Antonio Barragan joining him in the Premier League at Middlesbrough. As Valencia will likely lose a few more key pieces this summer, further recruitment is required.

Here are three more moves Valencia needs to make in the summer transfer window:

Reinforce central midfield

Due to Andre Gomes' impressive run with Portugal at Euro 2016, and coupled with Valencia's penchant for selling its younger stars, it's not unlikely that the 22-year-old will make a move to a bigger club this year.

Linked already with teams like Real Madrid and with a reported €65-million valuation from Valencia, Gomes' departure would leave a gaping hole in Valencia's midfield that Enzo Perez would probably not fill. With Javi Fuego and Dani Parejo likely secure in their starting spots in Valencia's midfield trio, Los Che require additions to its ranks in order to survive the long season slog.

As ever, Valencia will look to younger stars and use its position as a steppingstone side to bring up and develop a player, so replacements likely won't come in the form of a star name.

Potential targets: Ruben Neves (FC Porto), Victor Camarasa (Levante), Luis Alberto (Deportivo), Sergio Alvarez (Sporting Gijon)

Find another striker

Signing Alvaro Negredo for a €32-million fee on a five-year deal was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad deal for Valencia, and the club needs to move on and cut its losses sooner rather than later.

Fortunately, Middlesbrough is more than happy to lend Valencia a helping hand on Negredo's situation as well, taking the Spanish striker on loan with a purchase option added to the contract for next summer.

That, coupled with the departure of Rodrigo De Paul and the loan of Pablo Piatti means Valencia's really should begin shipping for new attackers, as Paco Alcacer is now the only striker of considerable merit remaining.

While Alcacer is highly touted and is already in the Spanish national team fold, he's shown signs of inconsistency, scoring 13 goals in 34 games last season. Make no mistake, the 22-year-old is more than capable of becoming the clear-cut starter for Valencia, and probably for an even bigger team, but for Valencia's immediate needs, a couple more forwards are definitely needed.

Potential targets: Roberto Soldado (Villarreal), Luciano Vietto (Atletico Madrid), Borja Baston (Eibar), Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)

Make another Mendes move

Football super-agent Jorge Mendes has a whole lot of influence at Valencia.

When Singaporean billionaire businessman Peter Lim purchased the team in 2014, Mendes had already begun spinning a web around the club, bringing on Joao Cancelo, Danilo, Zakaria Bakkali, and Perez, all players with some link or tie to the Portuguese agent. He also facilitated the departure of Nicolas Otamendi to Manchester City and helped bring Nani to the Mestalla Stadium.

While being in bed with an agent isn't exactly ideal, Mendes has a long list of clients, and that could prove quite beneficial for Valencia in the short term. Allowing Mendes a platform to bring on his clientele would at least give Valencia advantages over other teams vying for their services.

Ringing Mendes up and asking for a few higher-profile names struggling at their current clubs at a discounted rate wouldn't be a bad bit of business for either party.

Potential targets: Ezequiel Garay (Zenit St. Petersburg), Joao Moutinho (AS Monaco), Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad), Radamel Falcao (AS Monaco)