With the 2014-2015 Premier League season just weeks away from kick-off the transfer activity so far has given plenty of indicators as to who will challenge Manchester City for their crown.
Manchester City
Incidentally the champions have been relatively quiet in the market so far, with the signing of goalkeeper Willy Caballero, former Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna and Porto’s unknown quantity Fernando their only dealings.
Manchester City haven’t lost too much of their strength in depth so far though, with only Joleon Lescott’s move to West Bromwich Albion, Gareth Barry making his loan deal at Everton permanent and Costel Pantilimon moving to Sunderland their losses so far.
Those three players rarely featured over the last season given that Barry was playing a pivotal role at Everton, Lescott fell out of favour and despite Pantilimon wrestling the number one jersey from Joe Hart he failed to keep it.
The jury is still out on Manchester City’s three signings so far but their rivals have done plenty of work to catch up.
Chelsea
Chelsea have been the big movers in the transfer market this summer with the arrivals of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas countering the loss of David Luiz to Paris Saint Germain.
Costa had a terrific season at Atletico Madrid during the last campaign, shooting Madrid’s “second club” to La Liga glory but unfortunately for Atleti the Brazilian-born striker picked up an injury that left him ineffective in both the Champions League final and Spain’s disappointing World Cup campaign.
Fabregas enjoyed success in Spain at Barcelona but he was not the same talismanic player that drove Arsenal on and he will be hoping a return to England and the style of football that served him so well will see his career rise yet again.
The loss of Luiz for Chelsea will be felt but Jose Mourinho never really put faith in the Brazilian at centre-half and his central-pairing of John Terry and Gary Cahill were immense in the latter part of last season.
Arsenal
Across London both Manchester City and Chelsea’s rivals Arsenal have been recruiting well this summer, and for more on the Premier League front check out Coral’s dedicated website for updates.
Arsene Wenger has captured Barcelona’s Chilean sensation Alexis Sanchez recently and the attacker will no doubt be an excellent addition to both the club and Premier League.
The Gunners have lost Sagna, Johan Djourou, Lukasz Fabianski and Nicklas Bendtner so far but, Sagna aside, none of those players will be hugely missed.
With the likes of Sami Khedira, Loic Remy and Mathieu Debuchy still on Wenger’s radar this summer could get even better for Arsenal fans.
Manchester United
Last year’s big losers were Manchester United, who dropped from champions the previous year to a lowly seventh in the last campaign.
David Moyes’ disastrous reign coupled with a number of players past their peak resulted in Manchester United’s worst season in decades.
The hierarchy in Salford has addressed the problem this summer with English wonder kid Luke Shaw and promising Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera joining the ranks.
Liverpool
While Manchester United will be pleased so far with their summer activity, their bitter rivals Liverpool will be preparing for the worst.
While the likes of Emre Can, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert have signed up at Anfield, the loss of one talismanic player has dominated the headlines.
Luis Suarez looks set to join Barcelona in a deal that would strike a huge blow to Liverpool’s title aspirations but perhaps now is the right time to cut the Uruguay striker loose.
Despite his infamous World Cup bite, the former Ajax man is a player at the top of his game and Liverpool look ready to cash in on a player that has become very costly off the field.
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