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With the World Cup having come to an end, all attention in football will turn towards the transfer window as clubs splash the cash in preparation to meet and exceed their goals and objectives next season.
An abundance of cash due to an ever-increasing TV revenue gotten from broadcast rights means that a lot of Premier League teams have more money to spend on transfers than their European counterparts.
Though the summer transfer window traditionally closes on the 31st of August by midnight, a vote by Premier League teams last season means the upcoming window will close on the 10th of August, a day before the commencement of the new Premier League season, to enable clubs to focus on their activities without the distractions of player transfers. Owing to the new rule, EPL clubs would not be able to purchase a player after the 10th, though other European clubs are not restricted to this rule and can still purchase EPL players before the official closing date of 31st August.
Owing to this rule, a lot of Premier League clubs have completed a number of signings already, giving the players time to gel with their teammates in pre-season before the commencement of hostilities in the league.
Last season's runaway winners, Manchester City recently announced the signing of Algerian international and 2016 PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez for £61.02m from Leicester City while crosstown rivals Manchester United have added Brazilian central midfielder Fred for £53.10m and Portuguese right-back Diogo Dalot for £19.80m from Shakhtar and Porto respectively.
Other big teams have also dabbled in the transfer marker with Chelsea capturing highly rated Brazilian-born Italian international Jorginho from Napoli for £57m along with his coach Maurizio Sarri; Arsenal's new gaffer Unai Emery has bought a couple of impressive players, bringing in Uruguayan midfield lynchpin Lucas Torreira for £30m from Sampdoria on the back of his impressive World Cup performances. Goalkeeper Bernd Leno (£25m) and centre-back Sokratis (£16m) also arrived at the Emirates from the Bundesliga while a number of players came on a free transfer, including Juventus veteran Stephen Lichtsteiner. London rivals Tottenham though have been quiet in their transfer dealings.
The big club who have made the most impact in the transfer window, however, is unarguably Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp seeks to build on the impressive gains made at Anfield during his tenure and improve on last season's Champions League final run to mold Liverpool into genuine EPL contenders.
Liverpool have completed a host of necessary signings, including those of Guinean midfield utility man Naby Keita for £60m from RB Leipzig, Brazilian Luis Fabinho from Monaco for £45m and Swiss winger Xherdan Shaqiri for £14.7m from relegated Stoke City while Alisson Becker completed his world record move to the club for £67m.
In modern-day football, where rival clubs complete staggering deals in the blink of an eye, getting it right in the transfer market is one of the major factors between a club achieving its season objectives and failing to do so, as the transfer market offers an opportunity for clubs to buy players who will fix problems of previous seasons. On account of the strength of their teams and quality of signings so far, I rank the top six challengers for next season's Premier League title starting from the lowest.
#6 Arsenal
Arsenal will begin a new era post Wenger after 21 years of meritorious service from the Frenchman and Spanish former PSG coach Unai Emery is the man charged with leading the club into the new era.
Transitions from legendary coaches who put in long years of successful and rewarding hard work at a football team are rarely transient as fans of Manchester United found out, and the 46-year-old Emery will have his work cut out in restoring Arsenal back to the pinnacle of English football after the stagnation of Wenger's latter years.
Arsenal have massively fallen off course in English football; they have seen Manchester City and Liverpool overtake them in the Premier League hierarchy, they are no longer the pride of London, that distinction belongs to Chelsea. Indeed in recent seasons, the Gunners have fallen behind Tottenham in being the premier club in North London. They failed to qualify for the Champions League for two consecutive seasons and last lifted the Premier League title way back in the invincible campaign of 2003/2004.
Unai Emery has gone about Arsenal's transfer business rather astutely, but other than Bernd Leno in goal, his signings so far have failed to address Arsenal's major personnel shortcomings. Nacho Monreal is Arsenal's first choice left back, but at 32 years old, the Spaniard is rapidly nearing the nadir of his career and Kolasinac has not shown enough to prove that he is a top level player.
In the center of defense, Arsenal have been relatively lightweight in recent seasons and though Sokratis is a decent addition, is he an upgrade on Koscielny and Mustafi? Also, Hector Bellerin at right back is another weak link in the Gunners's back line and transfer speculations constantly linking him with a return to Barcelona mean the 23-year-old might not be totally committed to the Arsenal cause. Lichtsteiner, though full of experience, at 34 is an uninspiring signing, and some minor upgrades are needed to bolster the middle of the park.
In Emery's defense however, he might not want to rush into rash decisions and plans to give all players an opportunity to watch and gauge their suitability to his plans, but in this modern day of club owners wanting instant rewards on their significant investments and Arsenal's rivals upgrading in the market, Emery might not have the luxury of being afforded much time to build his dynasty.
Arsenal are nowhere near being favorites for the league and although there are exceptions such as Leicester's and Atletico's shocking league wins in 2016 and 2014 respectively, history has shown us that favorites more often than not triumph in league contests as the concentration and consistency needed over the nine months of a league campaign can only be found in clubs with the largest squad depth.
Arsenal have a dearth of on-field leaders and their signings haven't rectified that, therefore on account of where they are coming from and the strength of their signings so far, the best Arsenal fans can expect from Emery is to get them back into the Champions League and gradually build their way back into Premier League contention.
#5 Chelsea
Chelsea are also in a phase of transition, after announcing the termination of 2017 Premier League winning manager Antonio Conte's contract to be replaced by ex-Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri.
The 59-year-old Sarri brought Italian midfielder Jorginho with him from Napoli as his first official signing and recently announced Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola as one of his assistants.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's nature of rapid hiring and firing of coaches means that The Blues have been devoid of managerial consistency in the last decade and this has had a negative impact, as the players barely have enough time to adapt to a coach's methods before another manager replaces him.
Sarri comes into a less than ideal situation for a manager at Chelsea. Financial restrictions and plans for a stadium upgrade mean that there is a paucity of funds for the transfer of quality players as it was in the early years of Abramovich's reign. Key players such as Hazard, Willian and recently Kante are being linked with moves away from the club and the absence of Champions League football next season means that Chelsea would not be a prime destination for top-level players.
Sarri comes highly recommended, as his attractive style of play at Napoli earned endorsements from Pep Guardiola and Johann Cruyff, but whether his aesthetic style can translate into trophies at Stamford Bridge remains to be seen although he does have recent history in his favor as the Italians who have managed Chelsea have performed well.
#4 Tottenham Hotspur
The Lily Whites have made steady improvements since Mauricio Pochettino's appointment in 2014. He guided them to sixth place in the league in his first season before making Tottenham the only contenders during Leicester's Premier League triumph in 2016 in an eventual 3rd place finish and return to Champions League. He dethroned Arsenal for the first time in the Premier League era in 2017 and repeated the feat last season, forging Tottenham into a compact and well-drilled outfit.
Under his tutelage, a lot of young players have blossomed into world beaters including Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Heung-min Son. The 46-year-old deserves massive plaudits for the strides Tottenham have made under his tutelage, however, there is a limit to which a coach's acumen and developmental expertise can take a club without the requisite backing in the transfer market.
Daniel Levy also deserves credit for his leadership of Tottenham and he has earned a reputation as a shrewd and astute businessman during his 17-year tenure as chairman of Tottenham, but times have changed and major clubs have been increasing their spending in the transfer market to remain relevant.
Spurs are yet to make a signing in this window as compared to their rivals, as the club have a spending limit, and a strict salary structure means they don't pay players beyond a certain amount. These factors have seen Tottenham lose out on transfer targets and their key players move to rival clubs for bigger pay.
Tottenham have been impressive in getting to this level, but to morph into genuine title contenders, they would have to keep hold of their key players while reinforcing them with more quality from the transfer market, both of which require a deviation from their stringent financial measures.
The completion and move into their new 62,000 capacity stadium should generate extra revenue for Tottenham and maintaining consistency as a Champions League team will be key to Spurs genuinely challenging for titles in the coming seasons.
#3 Manchester United
Manchester United have experienced difficulties since Sir Alex Ferguson departed and failed to finish in the top four in three of the five seasons since.
Jose Mourinho was brought in to reverse that trend as the 55-year-old is a serial winner with a proven track record of success everywhere he has coached. The United hierarchy hired the Portuguese knowing his pragmatic style was contrary to the club's aesthetic methods, but they felt results were more important than beauty as the club could not afford to fall further behind city rivals Man City.
The appointment has had the desired impact, though not on the scale and pace that fans would have expected. The Portuguese won two trophies in his first year in charge and the club recorded their highest ever league finish post Fergie with their second place spot at the end of last season. They were also losing finalists in the FA Cup.
There have been complaints though about the labored and dour football Manchester United play under The Special One and the lack of opportunities given to crowd favorites Anthony Martial and Marcos Rashford while the Red Devils also suffered an embarrassing round of 16 exit to Sevilla in the Champions League at Old Trafford.
United have done excellent business in the window so far and the signing of Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk under the noses of Manchester City represents a real coup as the Brazilian would slot in naturally into a midfield three alongside Matic and Pogba and will give the much-maligned Frenchman the opportunity to freely express himself.
Diogo Dalot at right back is also an improvement on the effective but limited and aging Antonio Valencia and Manchester United are just a quality left back away from being a complete team ready to have a serious tilt at challenging for the Premier League title.
#2 Liverpool
Liverpool have endured a barren league run for 28 years. The last time the Reds won the title, only Simon Mignolet, Ragnar Klavan, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and James Milner in the current Liverpool first team had been born.
Liverpool were the undisputed kings of English football in the days of Kenny Daglish and Ian Rush, but those days are long gone and Liverpool have had to build their way back into recognition behind the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City in recent years.
Jurgen Klopp has transformed Liverpool's fortunes since his arrival at the kop in 2015. He brought back the big team mentality and made fans believe once more in their club after Liverpool had run off course under his predecessors.
He sanctioned the record-breaking purchase of Dutch center back Virgil Van Dijk for £75m and the former Celtic and Southampton man brought a calmness in defense which the Reds had sorely been lacking in the recent past.
Another area which had given Klopp some major concern was the goalkeeping department, as both of his first-team goalkeepers; Simon Mignolet and Lorius Karius failed to impress, making several high profile errors which led to dropped points. Klopp had a hard time choosing a consistent number one, constantly swapping both of them until Karius made the spot his at the end of last year.
However, Karius still failed to inspire any confidence and there was always the feeling that he was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. That explosion came in the final of the Champions League where his ridiculous howlers played a crucial role in costing Liverpool a 6th European crown. The signing of Alisson from Roma would help offer stability and reliability in the Liverpool goal as the Brazilian has proven over the last few seasons that he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Prior to Klopp's arrival, Liverpool had qualified for the Champions League just once in the last 7 years, but the German oversaw Liverpool's qualification twice in successive seasons and last season's run to the final was the first time the Merseyside club had progressed from the group stage since 2009. There has been undeniable progress at Liverpool since Klopp's arrival and the 51-year-old's gengenpressing and heavy metal style of play means there is no shortage of excitement when Liverpool play.
Liverpool's business in the market has been beautiful, as both Luis Fabinho and Naby Keita will provide much-needed cover in midfield while Xherdan Shaqiri will be an excellent option off the bench to support their terrific front three. Liverpool are looking really fearsome heading into the next season, and if another top center back can be bought to challenge the error prone Lovren, Jurgen Klopp could well deliver Liverpool its first league title since 1990.
#1 Manchester City
Pep Guardiola's men strolled to the league title last season, setting and breaking a plethora of Premier League records along the way, including being the first team to rack up 100 points in the top flight, most goals scored in a single Premier League season (109), largest goal difference (79), most victories in a Premier League season (32), most away victories in a single season (16), most away points (50), most points ahead of second (19), most consecutive victories (20) and most passes completed in a game (943).
City have not dabbled in the market too much, with long-time target Riyad Mahrez the only addition so far, and it is understandable, as they were so dominant last season with hardly any weaknesses to be exploited in their team.
Manchester City unarguably have the strongest squad depth in the Premier League at the moment, and this is a crucial factor tipping the scale in their favor as favorites for next season's league title. Pep Guardiola has his 'philosophy' well drilled into his team as evidenced by their utter dominance last season and even though their rivals are making quality additions to their ranks, the strength in depth of Manchester City means that they are still the favorites to retain the Premier League title they won in emphatic style last season.
