In their quest to compete with reigning champions Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the English Premier League pyramid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have been looking to recruit outstanding players with varying levels of activity in pre-season . transfer market.
These four clubs understand that there is no margin for error if they are to compete with Manchester City, four-time champions in the past five seasons, and their perpetual pursuit, Liverpool, the 2020 champions.
Even if these two clubs leave the pack again, another hot race for the last two places in the Champions League is expected.
Chelsea
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel, tasked with getting Chelsea off to a strong start into the new club era, was nervous during a wild summer at his club.
Raheem Sterling was the first player signed by Chelsea under Bohley since the £47.5m ($57.8m) move from City, but the England international was the only player to sign up ahead, meaning that Tuchel will start the season without an outspoken striker after the return of Romelu Lukakau from Belgium. The Italian is on loan. Instead, Chelsea focused on finding replacements for German defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen, who joined Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, on a free transfer.
The London club have signed Senegalese Kalidou Coulibaly from Napoli for £33m, while he is reportedly close to signing Spanish left-back Marc Kokorea from Brighton for £50m.
Tuchel is also concerned about the instability of Spain’s quartet Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso, his compatriot Timo Werner and Moroccan Hakim Ziyech, as he questioned his team’s commitment following Chelsea’s 4-0 loss to Arsenal in pre-season.
Manchester United
Ronaldo’s demand to leave Old Trafford has cast a shadow over the pre-season for new Dutch manager Erik ten Hag.
Some report that the hard-working Ten Hag has impressed his players with his attention to detail and intense training since arriving from Ajax in May.
But the Dutchman’s ability to lift United from the bottom after he was pleased with a sixth-place finish last season will depend on how he handles Ronaldo’s crisis.
The Portuguese wants to join a club competing in the Champions League next season and has missed the pre-season round for United in Thailand and Australia “due to family reasons”.
Losing attacking instinct in front of a Ronaldo-sized goal is not something Ten Hag would have preferred to start his era at Manchester with, but he may ultimately feel that the departure of such a demanding star could bring positivity in other ways.
Instead, the team turned to Bournemouth’s Dane Christian Eriksen, Ajax’s Argentine Lisandro Martins, who is the shortest central defender in the Premier League (1.75m), and Dutch left-back Tyler Malasia.
Tottenham and Arsenal
In north London, Tottenham and Arsenal were in a feverish recruiting race after a dramatic battle for a place in Champions League qualification last season.
Spurs finished fourth in the penultimate stage after a fine finish in which they scored three straight wins, one of which was a 3-0 victory over Arsenal. Italian manager Antonio Conte’s response to what he described as a “miracle” in Champions League qualification was to ask Tottenham president Daniel Levy to spend the money, a request that has so far led to the signing of Brazilian striker Richarlison, financial midfielder Yves. Bisoma, defender Jid Spence, Croatian winger Ivan Perisic and goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
As for Arsenal, they bounced back from a bitter disappointment at the end of last season by pouring over £100m into new signings.
Spanish coach Mikel Arteta has approached his former club Manchester City to include Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko in two deals totaling £75m.
Portuguese playmaker Fabio Vieira also arrived from Porto as a potential star of the future.
