Doing business early also sends a signal to the player that they are genuinely wanted and have a role to play, and not just being thrown a bone at end of transfer window as club has lost out on other players...
Only 12 - you do realise that's over a quarter of the season still left to play? 12 games plenty enough but for me the biggest issue is we haven't put a run of wins together, say 4 or 5 on the spin. That's what we need to do... can we?