Cash-rich EPL set for ‘super coach’ era

English football is in for exciting times with the likes of Guardiola, Mourinho, Wenger, Klopp and Conte battling it out for top honours

Awash with more cash and global appeal than ever before, the English Premier League is still struggling to lure or retain the elite players in world football like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez.

Here, for the moment, the Galacticos are the managers.

The era of the super-coach has arrived in England’s top division. Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte and Juergen Klopp make up possibly the most outstanding group of managers seen in the same country at one time.

It means some huge reputations are going to take a battering during another highly-anticipated Premier League campaign, which begins on Saturday with no obvious title favourite and with predictions warped by Leicester’s improbable surge to the championship last season.

“This season,” former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said, “the managers are the box-office.”

For drama, it may pay to check out the coaches’ technical area as much as the field of play. No more so than when Mourinho and Guardiola renew their rivalry as the new managers of Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively.

The Manchester clubs have hogged the limelight this offseason because of the coaching arrivals and their heavy spending in the transfer market that reached $400 million (`2,761 crore) on Tuesday with the signings of Paul Pogba (for a world-record $116 million, `774.64 cr) and John Stones. Most British bookmakers make the teams the two favourites for the title this season.

Of course, the bookies can get it wrong. Take last season, for example.

Leicester started out as a 5,0001 shot to win the Premier League and ended up romping home to finish 10 points clear, delivering one of the biggest underdog triumphs in any sport. Chelsea started out as defending champion and favourite, and limped home in 10th place in the worst title defence seen in the EPL.

This time round, City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham (in that order) are expected to be the main contenders in what is probably the most open field in years. Champion Leicester is still only the seventh favourite.

A record injection of TV money, split evenly between top-flight teams, is levelling out the Premier League and increasing competition. This is the first season of a new three-year broadcasting deal for domestic and international rights worth a record 8.3 billion pounds (`71,894 cr) and clubs have used that windfall to spend around $1 billion this off-season.