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The transfer window slammed shut for English clubs at 5 PM BST on the 9th of August. Though the clubs can still offload dead-weight, they can no longer bring in reinforcements.
Uncharacteristically, not a lot of money was splurged on deadline day with all the big clubs have conducted their business early on.
While the Merseyside clubs, Liverpool and Everton enjoyed a spectacular transfer window, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur had a window to forget. The transfer window was similarly unforgiving for Tyneside with Newcastle United enduring a wretched transfer window.
Apart from the usual suspects, the Premier League new-boys, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Fulham were quite active and got hold of their intended targets.
In addition to Wolves and Fulham, West Ham, under the stewardship of Manuel Pellegrini made some shrewd acquisitions.
With deadline day done and dusted, it is time to look at how a combined XI of all the incoming transfers into the Premier League would look like.
The ‘Incoming Transfers XI’ is a pretty decent team and would prove to be a tricky proposition for even the best in the business. Let us now take a look at how the new signings line up. The team will have a 4-3-3 formation.
Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker (Liverpool)
Alisson was signed by Liverpool from Roma for £67m, a then world-record fee for a goalkeeper. However, he couldn’t hold on to that title for long as Chelsea broke the bank to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Alisson enjoyed a solid season for Roma last season, keeping 22 clean sheets across the Serie A and the Champions League.
He was sound between the sticks for Brazil in the World Cup as well and kept three clean sheets in five games.
Alisson represents a huge upgrade on either of Mignolet and Karius. Adept at playing with the ball at his feet, he is composed under crosses and is less error-prone than the aforementioned duo.
The choice of Alisson in this XI wasn’t a tough one to make. Though Leno and Kepa are good goalkeepers, Alisson is a notch above them.
At 25 years of age, Liverpool has gotten their hands on a superb goalie who can serve them for the best part of a decade. The Anfield faithful would hope that Alisson proves to be the final piece in the jigsaw for Liverpool.
Defenders: Lucas Digne, Yerry Mina, Caglar Soyuncu, Stephan Lichsteiner
The biggest deal for a defender was completed on deadline day when Yerry Mina was snapped up by the Toffees for a fee around £30m. In a refreshing change, Premier League clubs this summer bought players based on their form, rather than reputation.
The full-back slots go to Lucas Digne and Lichtsteiner. Stephan Lichtsteiner arrived at Arsenal on a free transfer from Juventus. He is a stable option at Right Back and will bring lots of experience to this otherwise inexperienced back line.
Digne at Left Back was a no-brainer as he is a top-notch full-back. In Digne, Everton has signed a long-term replacement for Leighton Baines. Digne would want to resurrect his career after spells at Roma and Barcelona.
As for the Centre Backs, I have gone with Mina and Soyuncu. Mina was impressive at the World Cup, proving influential at both ends of the pitch. Mina was out of favor at Barcelona and his move to Merseyside is a step in the right direction.
On the other hand, Soyuncu was a constant fixture in Freiburg’s side. His biggest asset is his reading of the game and he came up with 2.1 interceptions per game along with 3.4 clearances. Soyuncu is just 22 years old and represents a shrewd acquisition on Leicester’s part.
This back four will allow Lichtsteiner and Digne to bomb forward while the height of Mina would help in countering any aerial threat. All in all, this defensive line would be a tough nut to crack for any opposition.
Midfield: Lucas Torreira, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic
The midfield provided a proper selection headache as a lot of quality midfielders have been on the move this summer. In the end, I have gone in with a destroyer, a deep-lying playmaker and a creative, box to box midfielder.
Torreira was signed by Arsenal from Sampdoria. Last season, he was one of the best defensive midfielders in Italy.
At the World Cup, he played a crucial role in Uruguay’s knockout fixtures as the ‘anchorman’.
Apart from his tackling and tactical astuteness, he is an efficient passer of the ball and would be the ideal link between defence and attack for this team.
In Jorginho, this team would have the perfect deep-lying playmaker who has the ability to keep the ball and play defence-splitting passes from inside his own half.
Jorginho was brought in from Napoli and has hit the ground running, forming a vital cog in Chelsea’s wheel. A midfield partnership of Torreira and Jorginho would work a charm as the former would look after the defensive aspect while the latter can spring attacks.
The choice for the box to box midfielder was especially tough with Fred, Wilshere and Kovacic being prime candidates. However, the dribbling and passing abilities of Kovacic got him the nod.
Kovacic is one of the most underused players in world football. He has been warming the bench for Real Madrid for a couple of seasons.
Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t nail down a starting berth for his country, Croatia with midfield maestros Modric and Rakitic ahead of him.
Kovacic has bags of talent and he looks primed to make his mark on the Premier League this season.
The midfield chosen is a very balanced midfield and would control most games. Torreira’s role would be paramount with Lichtsteiner and Digne foraying forward.
However, one thing is for sure: not many teams would want to face a midfield triumvirate of Torreira, Jorginho and Kovacic.
Forwards: Andre Schurrle, Xherdan Shaqiri and Riyad Mahrez
The Premier League clubs didn’t go all out for attacking players as a majority of the big clubs are well stocked in that department. However, there were still a few quality additions that were made in the window.
Riyad Mahrez was bought by Manchester City from Leicester City. Mahrez has grown in stature since Leicester’s fairy-tale and he finally got his dream move to the blue half of Manchester.
Mahrez was sensational last season, scoring 12 goals and assisting a further 10 goals. In our XI, Mahrez would start on his preferred right wing position.
On the left flank, I have gone for the enigmatic Xherdan Shaqiri. Klopp signed Shaqiri from Stoke to add to Liverpool’s firepower up front.
The latter was in decent form last season and made the net bulge on eight occasions while bagging seven assists. He was a constant thorn for sides at the World Cup, marking his World Cup with a sumptuous goal against arch-rivals, Serbia. The ability to go past his man and whip in devilish crosses is what gets him into our XI.
I have gone with Andre Schurrle through the middle. There weren’t any big name centre forwards that arrived in England this summer.
Out of the options available, Schurrle was the best bet. Schurrle has played before in England with Chelsea and was relatively successful.
Earmarked as an exciting prospect at a young age, his career has stagnated due to injuries and loss of form. Schurrle would hope his second coming in England with Fulham would put him on the German national team map again.
The front three would be very mobile and interchangeable with all the forwards equally adept at scoring and creating. On their day, they would run rings around any defence in the Premier League.
Bench: Bernd Leno, Fred, Richarlison, Joao Moutinho, Jack Wilshere.
