Kolkata: When it comes to thinking about ways to improve football, there are, broadly, two groups of people: those who have been influenced by Arsene Wenger and those who should have been.
From changing attitudes in players and ensuring an elite club stayed that while investing in infrastructure, “Le Professeur” showed the way. But the summer transfer deadline after leagues in Europe kicked-off was a pet peeve he could do nothing about.
It merits mention as another season of the top five leagues starts this weekend and the next. Two days before Liverpool begin their title defence, something they have not successfully done in 41 years, Arne Slot does not know whether Alexander Isak will be added to the roster. Neither is Newcastle manager Eddie Howe aware whether the Sweden international, who had 33 goal contributions (27 goals and six assists) in all club competitions, will stay.
“There are discussions going on all the time that I am not party to,” BBC quoted Howe as saying on August 9, one week before Newcastle travel to Aston Villa. Players joining, or not joining, after leagues begin have had a big impact on clubs. Think Wayne Rooney and Luis Suarez, both deadline day signings for Manchester United and Liverpool. And then, think Mario Balotelli switching to AC Milan or David de Gea’s deal with Real Madrid falling through at the last minute, literally.
So, it fits that clubs try and do most of the business early. Liverpool have by investing nearly €300m on Hugo Ekitike, Germany’s player of the year Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. Losing the Community Shield on penalties to Crystal Palace will hurt but the quartet having a good outing at a sun-kissed Wembley should mitigate that.
Arsenal’s bid to improve on a third successive season where they finished second has taken them shopping as well. Mikel Arteta is banking on Viktor Gyökeres to better 14 draws in the league last term (Crystal Palace were the next team with as many and they finished 12th). The 27-year-old Swede scored 54 goals in all competitions in 24-25 and has 97 goals in 102 matches for Sporting Lisbon.
“He is a player that, when you leave him with the space, one against one, he is going to destroy you,” Arteta has said of Gyökeres.
Arsenal have also done business in other areas of the pitch, buying Kepa Arrizabalaga, Noni Madueke, Martin Zubimendi and Christian Nørgaard for a total of over €200m. As have Club World Cup champions Chelsea, who have sorted out a first team from among their raft of signings. João Pedro’s shift from the beach to scoring a brace against his boyhood club in the USA is the stuff dreams are made of. Jamie Gittens, Estevao Willian, Liam Delap and 19-year-old Jorrel Hato are Chelsea’s other major signings as they plan for Champions League after two seasons.
The Premier League club that moved really early are Manchester City doing most of the buying in January. After their first season without a trophy since 2016-17, City loaned Jack Grealish to Everton but signed Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Aït-Nouri to take their spending to nearly €350m this year.
Ruben Amorim’s rebuild at Manchester United is on but excitement over the arrivals of Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha could be tempered by the club having off-loaded only Marcus Rashford, on loan to Barcelona, so far.
Luis Diaz has moved to Bayern Munich, Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid for €12m, Borussia Dortmund bought Jobe Bellingham, Atletico Madrid have made a raft of new signings and Champions League winners Paris St-Germain spent €67m of 22-year-old Ukrainian defender Illia Zabarnyi continuing Bournemouth’s trend of selling defenders to top clubs. But with 14 of the world’s 30 richest clubs in the Premier League, most of the big buys have been in England.
Not everything is about money though. Free transfers of Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli), who left City after 10 years, and Luka Modric (AC Milan) show that Serie A can still attract talent. But the story of the season could be if a 32-year-old free agent signed by Monaco can revive his career. Here’s looking at you Paul Pogba.