PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW

Adamo Rimoli

In European football, teams are allowed to buy, sell and swap players in just three months of the year. January, July and August are the months in which teams can look to bolster their squad or cash in on some assets. With the end of July fastly approaching, the footy season rears its head around the corner across the eastern hemisphere.

So what happened in the summer transfer window, and how do these moves look to shape up the outlook on Europe's crown jewel league, the English Premier League?

To the surprise of many, Liverpool and Manchester City were NOT England’s top spenders. In fact, a team from North London that had a brilliant run of form in the latter half of last season took the crown as the UK’s top spender. Arsenal brought in key pieces from across Europe including Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Fabio Vieira. With the loss of Alexandre Lacazette returning home, Jesus is looking to fill in big shoes as the Gunners main number nine.

That being said, the EPL is still a two horse race with City and Liverpool at the top, while other teams battle for third. Erling Haaland walked into the league as a 21 year old and is immediately the best striker and perhaps even the best player. He was quite the add for City as their only question mark for the past season or so has been who their true striker is.

Losing Rahem Sterling to Chelsea certainly hurts but with City’s depth on the wing, it should be negligible. To replace Fernandinho’s presence in holding midfield, City brought in English standout and Leeds fan favourite, Kalvin Phillips for quite a lot of money relative to his market value.

As for the Merseyside squad, Liverpool have completed some tidy business as they brought in Portuguese standout Darwin Nunez who is set to be replacement for the club legend Sadio Mane up front. Other than that, a rather quiet window from Jurgen Klopp.

Some other notable things that have occurred in the window include Chelsea’s backline looking much different with the departure of regulars Andreas Chirstensen and Antonio Rudiger but they brought in Serie A standout Kalidou Koulibaly. As mentioned previously, they brought in Raheem Sterling who’s technical ability is absolutely world class and should have no issues slotting into the Chelsea side. Manager Thomas Teuchel has proven to be a footballing genius last season but it should be very interesting to see how his new squad looks.

Manchester United look to bounce back after the shocking season that was last year coming sixth in embarrassing fashion. They had 3 managers last year and are onto a new one this year as the former Ajax man Erik ten Hag looks to turn the fortunes of this plagued United team.

He brought in defenders Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez, a pair of his guys from his former league. Christen Eriksen being able to play for the Red Devils is a nice feel-good story after the near tragedy at Euro 2020. With drama surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo wanting to leave, the time is now for this United squad to prove CR7 why he should consider staying.

Tottenham completed some tidy business of their own in the window as the only player of note out the door is Steven Bergwijn who is returning home to Netherlands. On the flip side, Spurs have managed to sign star forward Richarlison who would slot in very nicely behind Harry Kane.

Former Brighton star Yves Bissouma was also welcomed to play somewhat of a box-to-box role. Free transfer from Inter Milan, Ivan Peresic seems to be the replacement on the left side for Bergwijn as well. Antonio Conte and staff put together quite the nice window as they continue to stay in the hunt for Champions League football next season.

West Ham had themselves a rather quiet window as they usually do, with very few transfers in or out. That being said, the most notable one coming in Nayef Aguerd from Stade Rennais. At the time of writing this, Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo has been given the “here we go” from footballing master insider Fabrizio Romano however no formal announcement from the club has been put out. He would be a big addition to the Hammers as their biggest weakness last year was the amount of strikers they had to use.

Newly promoted side Nottingham Forest brought in Jesse Lingard on a free transfer. Just on a one year deal, it feels like a mutual agreement between the club and player that this is an opportunity for Lingard to show off his skills.

Leeds had a massive window as they lost their stars in Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips but are looking to replace them with the additions of Brenden Aaronson, Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams. Taking the unconventional route, it's rare to see a Premier league’s marquee signings consist of two Americans and a Colombian. Leeds’ strategy is certainly one to pay attention to as they may be exploiting a market inefficiency.

After a relegation scare for Everton, they have done nothing but get worse as their only notable move was losing their best player in Richarlison to league rival Tottenham.

Another team to keep one eye on is Southampton. While they haven’t made news with any blockbuster moves, they have quietly spent over $60 million on youngsters. Romeo Lavia (18) hasn’t actually played a game of professional football but nevertheless, Southampton saw enough in his games with the Manchester City U23s to pay $13.5 million. Joining him from the City U23s is Irish goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu (20) who has at least 10 professional games under his belt in the lower leagues of England. It should be fascinating to see where these signings take the Saints.

Despite the major signings and departures in the EPL, fans shouldn’t expect any major swings in the table as Manchester City are still heavy favourites to win the league, with Liverpool behind them. As per usual, the final European football slots are most likely going to be filled by the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs and Arsenal– any order. Then Leicester, Brighton, West Ham and maybe Newcastle are looking to fight for a spot in the UEFA Conference League.