Records smashed as clubs splash the cash
It’s been another summer of record transfer spending in the Premier League. With the ink barely dry on the new bumper TV deal with Sky and BT, clubs were quick to spend the extra money, with only a handful refraining from joining in the spending spree. Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola having last term endured his first trophyless season as a coach, led the way, investing a record £200million on new players, while Manchester United were not far behind, splashing out in excess of £146m by the start of August. Chelsea’s outlay on new signings was £125m, with £58m of that going on club record signing Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. Others who broke their transfer record were Liverpool (Mohamed Salah, £36.9m, Roma), Arsenal (Alexandre Lacazette, £57.2m, Lyon), West Ham (Marko Arnautovic, £20m, Stoke) and Bournemouth (Nathan Ake, £20m, Chelsea), plus new boys Huddersfield (Steve Mounie, £12m, Montpellier) and Brighton (Mat Ryan, £5.5m, Valencia).
Manchester City’s spending included £164m on their defence, with three new full-backs – Benjamin Mendy (Monaco, £52m), Danilo (Real Madrid, £27m) and Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur, £46m) – as Guardiola seeks to address one of the major failings of his side last season. They replace Aleksander Kolarov, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna, and Guardiola can have no complaints about the strength of his squad.
Bernardo Silva (£45.2m, Monaco)
“Trying to put more pressure on their star players, their key players – we need to do that too” Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino
gives the Spaniard yet another exciting attacking option, while the signing of Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson (£31m, Benfica) is a recognition that last season’s experiment – banishing Joe Hart and hiring sweeper-keeper Claudio Bravo – was a significant factor in City’s failure to rival champions Chelsea and runners-up Tottenham.
Of last season’s top six only Spurs did not join the spending spree, although chairman Daniel Levy’s traditionally difficult negotiating stance probably played a role in their lack of activity in June and July. The sale of Walker to City was too good to turn down, especially with Kieran Trippier a more than adequate replacement. Manager Mauricio Pochettino suggested some frustration with this approach when he said: “How have Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and different clubs tried to improve their season? Bringing players and trying to put more pressure on their star players, their key players – and for us we need to do that too.”
Unlike the previous campaign, United, Chelsea and Liverpool all have the added pressure of Champions League football this season, so City probably start as title favourites, ahead of United in Jose Mourinho’s second season in charge. United may well have overpaid for players – the 29-year-old Nemanja Matic cost £40m – but the spine of the side has been strengthened, with Swedish defender Victor Lindelof (£31.6m, Benfica) reinforcing the defence and Romelu Lukaku (£75m, Everton), despite being sold by Mourinho at Chelsea, adding firepower to replace Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Mourinho’s second-season syndrome – signing a big-name centre-forward (Didier Drogba, Diego Milito, Diego Costa), reuniting with former players (Ricardo Carvalho) – has often resulted in winning the title, so the pressure is on.
Far from basking in their title success, Chelsea have endured a difficult summer, with Costa’s future unresolved and tensions over Antonio Conte’s new contract. Major departures – Matic, Ake and John Terry – mean the squad still seems light to compete on two fronts. The new additions so far – Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco, £34m), Morata (reunited with Conte who signed him for Juventus in 2014) and Antonio Rudiger
(£32m, Roma) are astute signings, while Danish defender Andreas Christensen is back from his lengthy loan spell in the Bundesliga.
What of Liverpool? Neymar’s departure from Barcelona reignited fears that Philippe Coutinho could be targeted by the Spanish club – just as Coutinho’s attacking partnership with Salah and the fit-again Sadio Mane had generated much excitement on Merseyside.
So much of Arsenal’s fortunes depend on the as-yet undecided future of Alexis Sanchez, with Arsene Wenger insisting the Chilean stays, even if it means he leaves on a free transfer next summer.
Some of the huge sums of money spent is trickling down – notably the Lukaku cash to Everton funding a spending spree on a host of players, including Dutch midfielder Davy Klaassen (£23.6m, Ajax) and keeper Jordan Pickford (£25m, Sunderland).
The new arrivals are likely to make life more complicated for the youngsters blooded by Koeman last season – such as midfielder Tom Davies and winger Ademola Lookman, one of five Everton players in England’s world under-20 squad this summer.
Everton are the one team that could join a highly competitive top six in competing for the Champions League places and pulling away from the rest of the league. Southampton, under the highly-rated Mauricio Pellegrino, and West Ham, whose £16m signing Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen seems astute, could be outside bets for European places.
The record spending also means that, once again, it is unlikely that many youngsters will break through into Premier League first teams. Most managers, Koeman being an honorable exception, are reluctant to take the risk.
Ironically, English football enjoyed its most successful summer in international youth tournaments. In addition to the much publicised victory in the World Under-20s in South Korea, England also
triumphed in the European Under-19s championship, beating Portugal in Georgia. And there were impressive performances in the European Under-21s, losing in the semi-finals on penalties to Germany and finishing as runners-up to Spain, again on spotkicks, in the European Under-17s.
One summer youth trend was that of youngsters leaving champions Chelsea permanently. Although the club’s controversial loan policy is still operating – Tammy Abraham (Swansea) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace) have both gone on season-long loans – a number of prominent youngsters opted to fly the nest this summer. Dominic Solanke, star of the England under-20 success, moved to Liverpool, while Ake completed a permanent switch to Bournemouth. Nathaniel Chalobah, a key figure for England under-21s in Poland and loaned to six different clubs in his short career – joined Watford for £5m, having
made only a handful of first-team appearances for Chelsea last season.
The departures rankled with Conte who said: “Sometimes I think that the young players lose their patience very quickly. A lot of the time because of parents or the people around these players. I think the advisors are not right.
“Also you have to fight with this. The first thing they should have is good patience. Trust the club. They work hard to know very well that to play at this level you must be stronger - and very good.
“Sometimes, young players think they can play easily in the first team, but that’s not true. I have to pick 11 players. Not only me, every coach.”
“Sometimes i think that the young players lose their patience very quickly” Chelsea manager Antonio Conte