Dreaming a Premier League dream is a noble aim for players succeeding in the academies of its clubs, but simply carving out a career in the game is difficult enough in its own right.

In that context, taking a step back to line up a step forward is standard procedure in the actuality of a good football career.

Developing players capable of standing out in the Championship and pushing towards the top division is just another way for Premier League-level academies to prove their mettle. Whether or not there’s any prospect of players reaching the first team, managing their progress is part of the academy job.

Six goal contributions in six Championship appearances

In June, West Bromwich Albion signed 20-year-old attacking midfielder Jimmy-Jay Morgan from Chelsea.

Born in the ‘P’ part of the sprawling BCP conurbation that comprises Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Morgan joined Chelsea at the age of eight but spent six years in the middle of his junior football back on the south coast at Southampton before returning to Surrey.

As Chelsea plotted his future away from Stamford Bridge, he was loaned to Gillingham in League Two in January 2025 and again to League One side Peterborough United for the majority of last season.

He scored at a rate better than once every three matches in the third tier. He’s been even more dangerous in his first month or so in the second, where he is in the early weeks of a four-year contract with the West Midlands club.

Morgan was fortunate to be on the pitch on the night Albion went top of the Championship with a remarkable 1-0 win at Derby County. The young forward kicked out at Watford’s Albert Eames in the previous match but was on hand do a different side of his job after his team went down to 10 men in the first half at Pride Park.

He’s out-scoring his xG and making chances for his teammates, and Morgan’s early-season numbers make for encouraging reading. After six second-tier games, he has three goals and three assists. He’s Albion’s leader on both measures.

It’s easy to see where the productivity comes from. Morgan focuses on doing the right things and being in the right places when he can’t be directly involved. If he sees a run, he runs it. He’s not shy about demanding the ball either.

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Albion’s goal at Pride Park came out of nowhere. Callum Styles carried the ball outside the left flank of the Derby box and was fouled.

It was in the back of the net in the blink of an eye, and it was Morgan who took up the baton to fire a pass in for Aune Heggebo to prod home.

But with Albion a man down and Heggebo withdrawn at the break, Morgan had to show the effects of the toughening up provided by the bottom two tiers over the past 18 months.

The England Under-20 international played up front on his own in the second half, a thankless task at the best of times.

In his first interview with West Brom’s media team, Morgan acknowledged that his time at Gillingham and Peterborough had taught him how to be robust and relentless, characteristics that overtook goals and assists when debutant Brayann Pereira was sent off after 34 minutes.

‘Just keep using your body, be stronger’

Morgan’s performance might have gone unheralded at the front of a rearguard action but the three free kicks he won while protecting the ball earned him the adulation of the travelling Baggies in the corner.

While the former Chelsea player’s ability to lead the line in difficult circumstances is surely a product of his practised robustness, Morgan’s manager is keen that his more recent work is recognised too.

“I think it’s the work he’s done in pre-season as well, and the confidence he’s getting from his performances,” Albion boss James Morrison tells FourFourTwo.

“We said at half time, he’s going to have to try to buy fouls by really using his body. We said, ‘Just keep using your body. Be stronger.’

“I felt like with [Morgan] up there, with his trickery, we might get ourselves up the pitch.”

The new signing certainly made his presence felt. In the first six games with his new club, Morgan is not only making Albion’s recruitment look good, but Chelsea’s decisions about his development too.

At 20, he has both a strong academy background and progress through the divisions already under his belt. That he’s taken the Championship in stride bodes well.

“He’s the reason”, Tottenham Hotspur fans once sang about Rodrigo Bentancur. In the 2021/22 season, particularly once Antonio Conte took over from Nuno Espirito Santo, the Uruguayan was instrumental in the middle of the park.

He forged a fine partnership with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and looked a world beater in north London. There was even an argument to be made that he was their most important player. Spurs wouldn’t have secured a Champions League finish without Bentancur in the side.

Disaster, though, struck in February 2023. Bentancur suffered an ACL injury at Leicester City. In the years since, Bentancur wasn’t the same player. A succession of spells on the sidelines owing to knee, ankle and hamstring issues hardly helped the Uruguay international.

Too safe

Nor did the Thomas Frank Reign of Pain. At one stage last season, the Dane’s favoured midfield pairing was Bentancur and Joao Palhinha at the base in the 4-2-3-1 formation. The axis of evil was resoundingly criticised, particularly at home when the north London side were accused of being too safe.

So, when Spurs spent £185m to bring Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium from Newcastle United and West Ham United, respectively, many felt Bentancur would be deemed surplus to requirements. At that point, the idea was that both Tonali and Fernandes would forge the deep-lying pairing in Roberto De Zerbi’s preferred 4-2-3-1 setup.

Yet, three games into the new Premier League season, Bentancur has started twice. He replaced Lucas Bergvall at the break in last month’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford, the Swede having struggled in the opening 45 minutes. He ranks fifth for total league minutes (225) at Spurs.

Admittedly, results haven’t gone in the club’s favour. They have collected just one point from meetings with the Bees, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, and are one of three teams yet to score a league goal in England’s top tier this season.

Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Forest, though, was a step in the right direction. Spurs looked more threatening going forward, and could have gone ahead in the first half had Omar Marmoush hit the target when one-on-one with Matz Sels.

What caught the eye, however, was Bentancur’s standout performance. The former Juventus midfielder was arguably Spurs’ best player at the City Ground, putting in the necessary nitty-gritty display that helped Spurs claim a first point of the season. They were far tougher to break down than they were in back-to-back defeats to Brentford and Newcastle.

Indeed, Bentancur made nine clearances, two interceptions and one tackle in the Midlands. He managed five ball recoveries, won six duels and four aerial duels. While Spurs splashed the cash to improve the squad in the off-season following their relegation scrap, it’s the 2022 £18m addition that continues to shine in a key area.

Conte identified Bentancur as a vital player when he took charge back in 2021, and De Zerbi has done similar following his appointment back in April. In time, De Zerbi may plump for a pairing of Tonali and Fernandes to help take Spurs forward. For the foreseeable future, however, Bentancur needs to be a starter at the base of the midfield.

Forget the £185m pairing, it’s Bentancur who De Zerbi should be building his midfield around. There’s a reason, after all, that Spurs were happy to - briefly - entertain bids for Lucas Bergvall and willing to sanction Pape Sarr’s Juventus switch. When it came to Bentancur, however, there was no chance he’d be shown the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium exit.

And with the welcome of a battling Everton side looming, De Zerbi needs to continue with Bentancur in a key position. The Toffees thrive in midfield duels and winning second balls, meaning Spurs have a battle on their hands against David Moyes’ men this weekend.

Saturday’s Forest stalemate proved that Bentancur is more than up for the challenge. It also showed just why De Zerbi will look to the experienced figurehead in the middle of the park in his first full campaign in the capital. Spurs are a far more cohesive unit when Bentancur starts. Despite the shiney new toys, he’ll start in midfield, and deservedly so.

Sadio Mane was a great player. The phrasing here is deliberate — a world in which the Senegalese winger, little more than the Robin to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Batman in the Saudi Pro League, makes it to the Ballon d'Or 30-man shortlist… is not a serious world.

Sure, Mane won the Africa Cup of Nations in January of this year. Well, he did, until Senegal’s trophy was seized and re-distributed to Morocco in a court ruling, months after the fact. Regardless, is that enough?

Does the Ballon d'Or really expect us to believe that an underwhelming World Cup, a 10-goal Saudi Pro League season, and a phantom AFCON victory, is enough for fans to accept his place, in 2026 no less, among the world’s top 30 players?

Ballon d'Or, how is Sadio Mane in your 30-player shortlist?!

Sure, Mane won AFCON's Player of the Tournament — that wasn’t taken from him. Well, he did, with two pea-roller assists in a Round of 16 clash versus Sudan (gifted to him by glorious efforts from Papa Gueye and Ibrahim Mbaye) and one brilliant strike against Egypt in the semi-final.

His claim to making the Ballon d’Or’s 30-man shortlist begins and ends there. The 34-year-old was named Player of the Tournament not because his play was undeniable, but because he is Sadio Mane.

It must be stressed, there are other players present in the Ballon D’or 30-player shortlist whose places are near equally undeserved. For example, Julian Quinones and Dayot Upemecano stand out as two such individuals that should be nowhere near France Football’s award.

But there’s something in Mane’s inclusion that feels particularly egregious: it speaks directly to the nonsensical criteria that is used to determine which players are nominated for, or even win, the award. For starters, what is the Ballon d’Or’s obsession with international trophies?

Why is it that international tournament winners— in this case, Mane with AFCON — are automatically more deserving of a place on the 30-man shortlist, or a higher finish in France Football’s rankings, than players who excelled at club level?

That was made clear in 2018, when Lionel Messi, with 48 goal involvements, and Mohamed Salah, with 60 contributions, finished fifth and sixth in France Football’s list respectively.

That was the year that Luka Modric somehow left with the Ballon d'Or in his clutches… because he’d received the Golden Ball in a World Cup tournament. Oh, and Antoine Griezmann managed to bag third.

‘Trophy logic’ is wildly inconsistent — as some of Messi’s staunchest critics have pointed out, he won the 2019 Ballon d’Or with nothing but a LaLiga title to his name, yet his solitary World Cup trophy, and a Ligue 1 title that PSG nearly always win, was enough to supersede a treble-winning Erling Haaland’s claim in 2023.

The same pattern reared its ugly head when Rodri took home the 2024 award, propelled, very clearly, by Spain’s European Championship victory — denying a treble-winning Vinicius Junior.

A year later? Winning the treble was now enough for PSG’s Ousmane Dembele. He departed with the award, despite Salah and Raphinha clearly having stronger individual seasons, and winning their respective leagues, in tougher conditions.

Salah broke the Premier League record for goal involvements, and won the most-competitive top-flight title in Europe, without a single team-mate of his making France Football’s 30-man shortlist.

Raphinha racked up a staggering 21 Champions League goal contributions in just 14 games, and contributed to three goals versus Inter Milan, while his team shipped seven goals in a 7-6 aggregate defeat.

Elsewhere, Dembele played merely 1,736 Ligue 1 minutes — the equivalent of just 19 games.

For a so-called individual award, it seems that a player’s individual season is actually accounted for last, club-level trophies in second, and international silverware in first. That is farcical.

Mane is the latest beneficiary of such silly criteria. A mediocre club-level season with Al-Nassr, bagging just 10 goals en-route to Saudi Pro League victory, an average World Cup in which Senegal embarrassingly fell to an historic Belgium comeback, all superseded by an AFCON trophy... that was later taken away from him.

And hey, at least he stood on the pitch against Morocco and begged his Senegalese team-mates to return after they stormed off. That gave him ‘fair play’ points, right, France Football?

A pattern has developed during Michael Carrick's early tenure as permanent Manchester United boss, and he must address it.

Every time Bruno Fernandes shapes to send a curling delivery into the box from the half-space, and every time Bryan Mbeumo cuts inside to send a dangerous ball towards the back post, the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.

Man United are built to attack from wide areas, but lack the aerial profile inside the 18-yard box to capitalise on it.

Manchester United need to make tactical tweak three games into the season

Data gleaned from Gradient Sports paints an interesting picture of Man United’s opening games.

Carrick’s side currently rank first in the Premier League for total inswinging crosses attempted (39) - 10 more than the next-highest team - and second overall in total crosses (84). Individually, Bruno Fernandes leads the division for inswingers attempted, while summer addition Bryan Mbeumo ranks third.

The intent is clear: Man United are overloading the flanks and using their playmakers to deliver high-value, whipped service into the penalty area.

Despite dominating the delivery metrics, Man United rank only fifth for their cross completion rate. The quality of the service from Fernandes and Mbeumo is rarely the issue - rather, it is the lack of a complementary target profile inside the box when the ball arrives.

Matheus Cunha has spent much of the early campaign leading the line, but the Brazilian's natural game does not suit an aerial bombardment. Cunha is fundamentally a 'nine-and-a-half' - a fluid, technician who thrives when dropping deep to link play, driving at defenders from tight pockets, and unleashing shots from distance.

Asking him to engage in physical battles against Premier League centre-halves on whipped inswinging crosses doesn't quite get the best out of his strongest attributes.

When crosses flood the box, Cunha is occasionally out of position or outmatched in aerial duels, leaving the team's creative output feeling unrewarded.

The remedy for Carrick is sitting on the bench: Benjamin Sesko.

Unlike Cunha, Sesko provides the exact physical profile needed to transform Man United's crossing volume into goals. The Slovenian international offers physicality and height and box presence.

At 6ft 5in, Sesko gives Man United a genuine aerial presence capable of winning contested headers against deep defensive blocks. He is a player who will instinctively attack the landing zones of inswinging deliveries, too.

If Fernandes and Mbeumo continue to cross with such frequency, adding Sesko to the starting XI is a requirement.

The Den is a magnificent place to watch football. I imagine it’s a great venue to play at, too.

It’s a Guy Ritchie-directed, late ‘90s, flat-roof pub football club, soundtracked by Ocean Colour Scene’s ‘The Riverboat Song’.

Nowhere else in English football are you likely to hear, “Lino, you’re a c***” sung in unison during the first half…from the ‘Family Stand’.

Millwall is one of the last truly great places to watch proper football

At very few grounds in English football do you walk through the crowds before kick-off and wonder, “Is everyone here in the same WhatsApp group called ‘What we’re wearing to the game’?”

The chant of ‘MILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL’, if you can call it a chant or better still, a rebel yell, is an assault on the eardrums, despite there being less than 20,000 in the building.

There’s an old-style, decommissioned London bus painted royal blue that stands outside. It serves Spitfire ale. They have a centre-half of six feet six who plays exactly as you’d imagine. Even the commercial partners are proper working man’s sponsors: Selhurst Timber and Builder’s Merchants, Masons Scaffolding - corrr, I've got splinters just thinking about them. Canary Wharf is visible above the Dockers Stand, and they f***ing love a tackle.

I’m not at The Den every week, but I’ll bet the bloke who sits adjacent to the press box and shouts, “They are f***ing pony”, with the same frequency as the London Bridge to South Bermondsey service, is a regular, and local.

Plenty of teams - Leeds, Everton and Newcastle among them - might claim they run Millwall close in their Millwall-ness, but it’s exactly what the Premier League is missing, to its detriment.

I know what you’re thinking, 'Surely the EFL Family Club of the Year 2017 is a touch more welcoming than it was back in the old days?' Of course, that would be the correct assumption. Nothing is like the old days, but unlike other grounds, and some of Millwall’s closest rivals, ahem, they at least retain some of the horribleness.

In an age where football has become increasingly polished and corporate-ified, it’s redeeming to visit a stadium where it all feels authentic. Going in a box at The Den would feel wrong, and a waste of money. Paying more to miss out on the full experience? No, thanks.

Even the press room, with its low ceiling, a discarded mannequin torso and worn Wetherspoons-like carpet, stippled with 'MFC' worked into the fabric, is like something out of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s ‘The Office’.

The Lions came close to promotion last season, defeated in the Championship play-offs by eventual winners Hull City. They’ve lost star man Femi Azeez and were soundly beaten 5-1 by Southampton earlier this season, so this term might not go as well as last.

However, with six teams now making up the play-offs, and Millwall giving a near full-strength Newcastle side a good go in the Carabao Cup, there’s every chance.

The furore over FIFA's attempt to sell off the World Cup had only just died down when VAR controversies reared their ugly head in the opening weeks of the Premier League season. The demise of PSR appeared to offer temporary relief, yet those minded to celebrate its sudden obsolescence should be wary, EPL executives included. Its replacement abbreviation, SCR, threatens to gravely damage what made England's top tier so successful in the first place.

Some explanations are in order. Last November, Premier League clubs voted to change the financial rules that govern their transfer dealings. Out went Profit and Sustainability, which allowed adjusted losses of a maximum of £105m over a three-year period. In came Squad Cost Ratio, which permits clubs to spend up to 85% of their football-related revenue on squad costs, namely transfers, wages and agent fees.

There is something faintly depressing about the extent to which modern-day football fans have to be clued up on accountancy terms to make sense of their club’s ins and outs, but at least we now all know the definition of amortisation. Besides, football cannot be a free-for-all. Competitive sport relies on, if not a level playing field, then at least a semblance of parity. Allowing clubs to spend whatever they like would be a recipe for disaster, especially in the era of state ownership.

'A fudge so considerable it would have delighted Willy Wonka'

PSR was far from perfect. The bigger clubs were already able to splash more cash than the smaller ones because of their larger established revenues. This frustrated many, particularly ambitious outfits striving to break the glass ceiling like Aston Villa and Newcastle.

The regulations incentivised the sale of academy products, whose departures could go down in the books as pure profit. A loophole that allowed clubs to count non-football income in their earnings was cynically and predictably exploited. Most egregious was Chelsea’s sale of two hotels to a sister company controlled by their owners, a fudge so considerable it would have delighted Willy Wonka.

Yet SCR is a step in the wrong direction. That aforementioned loophole has been closed, but the issue of youth-team graduates remains unresolved. More worryingly, middle-ranking sides face a tighter financial squeeze.

PSR’s fixed £105m figure at least acted as a form of equalisation, imposing the same loss ceiling on all established Premier League clubs regardless of revenue. Under SCR, financial headroom is tied only to revenue, giving the elite clubs greater scope to splash the cash. The closed shop has had a padlock bolted on for good measure.

That is not all. SCR operates on a seasonal basis, as opposed to PSR’s three-year assessment period. This means that a Brighton or a Crystal Palace has less scope to keep a team together for a couple of campaigns before selling off assets in the third season to bring its cumulative losses under the £105m limit. Ambition is circumscribed before it has had the chance to bear fruit.

True, the 85% ratio is not a hard-and-fast limit. The Premier League terms it a ‘green threshold’, in contrast to a ‘red threshold’ that comprises the 85% plus a multi-year rolling allowance of 30%. A points penalty is reserved only for those who exceed the red threshold; breaching the green one is punishable by a fine. But that additional allowance is available to the richest teams too, so it only serves to strengthen their relative advantage.

The SCR problem is particularly acute for clubs that have qualified for Europe, who must simultaneously meet UEFA’s stricter ratio of 70%. Bournemouth, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Brighton, who will soon begin their continental campaigns, face greater constraints than those who missed out on the Europa League or Conference League.

It is telling that three of that quartet voted against SCR, along with Brentford, Fulham and Leeds. These upstarts realised the new regulations would be detrimental to their prospects going forward. The Premier League’s marketing department might soon need to rethink its “anyone can beat anyone” mantra.

Even under PSR, we would not have seen a repeat of Leicester’s 2015/16 title triumph, an achievement that did not merely upset the apple cart but sent it hurtling down the hill. Yet the likes of Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth have shown in recent years that through smart recruitment, astute management and a long-term vision, it is possible to not only survive but to thrive in the Premier League, sometimes outperforming the established powers in the process.

The advent of SCR makes that harder. For a league that has long prided itself on its competitiveness, it is a dangerous development.

Everton were in turmoil before Ainsley Maitland-Niles' 96th-minute equaliser against Manchester United last weekend. And to some extent, they still are - but all is not lost.

The Toffees are unbeaten in their opening three matches of the new Premier League season, with five points on the board, so the players are holding up their side of the bargain. At board level, though, it has been well-documented over the past couple of weeks that all is not well. Defeat at home to Man United would've seen a return of the phenomenon widely regarded as the 'Goodison boo' upon the final whistle.

A week prior, supporters had protested against the potential sale of academy graduate Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest which prompted a £40 million U-turn by the club's decision-makers. Then, fans could only watch as Everton jettisoned £100m worth of attacking talent on transfer deadline day, replacing them with nothing.

Silver lining to Everton's disastrous deadline day

It's understandable, then, that Evertonians are keen to hang their hats on Armstrong and his potential. And while many may assume he is the young player with the highest ceiling at the Hill Dickinson Stadium this season, FourFourTwo beg to differ.

Everton's signing of Chelsea academy star Tyrique George could prove to be some of the best business the club have done in recent years, because the 20-year-old has hit the ground running this season, despite the external noise surrounding the club's failings off the pitch.

The left-sided winger impressed against Man United, finding the net with a great effort to level the scoreline late in the game. It was his first Premier League goal for the club.

But it is not George's goalscoring that will, in our opinion, make him a dark horse for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

Courtesy of Gradient Sports data, George is the Premier League's best ball-carrier so far this season. Admittedly, the campaign is merely three weeks old but the signs are promising.

George is performing well above average in various areas, including passing, shooting and winning duels, but it is his ball-carrying which really lights up the database.

So far this season, George has completed seven of his nine attempted dribbles, beating his man with regularity during the early knockings of the campaign. This aspect of his game is especially reminiscent of an Everton teammate's breakthrough at Aston Villa: Jack Grealish.

Grealish was - and to some extent, still is - an elite level ball-carrier. Both are capable of transporting play upfield, tens of yards at a time with the ball at their feet. For clubs who are likely to find themselves in mid-table and below, alleviating opposition pressure by taking the ball far away from their own goal is a useful skill to have, not to mention leveraging it to good effect in an attacking sense in the final third.

George is going to be tasked with doing the former an awful lot this season, not least because Everton's first-team squad only has 18 senior members. Opportunities are going to be forthcoming for the ex-Chelsea youngster and on early season evidence, he's ready to grasp them with both hands.

Everton have left themselves with one recognised striker in David Moyes' group, Thierno Barry, who is the type of striker who requires service from out wide, and runners. As he has shown in recent weeks, George can offer the latter from the left-hand side, and Brennan Johnson is more than capable of doing that on the opposite flank. It relies on all three remaining fit, but gives things a decidedly rosier outlook than when the window slammed shut last week.

Chances for George to break through at Chelsea were always going to be few and far between, despite the cameo role he played at Stamford Bridge before joining the Toffees. The Blues will be looking to challenge for the Premier League title this season, albeit as an outside bet, and the £116m signing of Morgan Rogers guarantees Chelsea a greater likelihood of success than if they were to give George equal importance in the squad.

If George can add tangible end product as well, as he demonstrated against Man United, then there is every chance due to the level of exposure, working alongside Grealish and the style Everton are likely to play, that George will be someone we're all talking about very highly come the end of the season.

Newcastle United found themselves in a hole against Bournemouth when they met in the Premier League last weekend.

Marcus Tavernier's early strike and a bizarre own goal from Malick Thiaw put the Cherries 2-0 up at St James' Park but Newcastle responded immediately with a Harvey Barnes pearler. Eventually, Jacob Ramsey added a second to salvage a point.

Anecdotally, it was one of those days when it feels as if the supporters deserve a slice of the credit. Noise and colour, colour and noise. The twelfth man might not show up in the numbers but every football fan knows its potential.

Will the Lions' roar be diminished this season?

It's a feeling, really. Most of us have to imagine it but it's hard to believe that the ferocious encouragement of thousands wouldn't have an effect. How could it not?

Even in the precise and professional world of Premier League football, atmosphere matters. Players might not be unduly intimidated even by the great cauldrons of the game nowadays, but the sense of uplift for the other side must be intoxicating.

Pick the ultimate 4-4-2 line-up from players in FourFourTwo's definitive Top 100 List

It's difficult to say what might theoretically happen when it's taken away or drastically reduced, but elsewhere in the Premier League there is a practical example about to get underway.

Aston Villa have already played in front of the building site that was the North Stand just weeks ago, but losing 1-0 at home to Arsenal doesn't tell anyone anything about anything.

On Saturday, Villa welcome Nottingham Forest to a three-sided Villa Park. The North Stand is being redeveloped without getting pulled down in its entirety. It will be closed for the duration of 2026/27 as Villa increase the ground's capacity ahead of the European Championship in 2028.

After another poor start, Villa need the backing of their diminished crowd. The visit of Forest will serve as a very unfair comparison with the second leg of last season's Europa League, when eventual winners Villa were swept to a second-leg win on a wave of roars.

The situation is different, certainly, but there was little expectation that Villa would get anything from the visit of Arsenal and that is not the case when Forest return.

Without the North Stand, Villa will need to get to grips with a strange environment that can only truly materialise when a football crowd feel like they're needed.

Villa's fans will get behind Emery's team against Forest and the Holte End will play its part as much as ever.

Not having a stand full of Villa supporters at the other end, bouncing back the noise and exchanging pleasantries with the away supporters who also used to occupy the very same seats before they were shunted around the corner flag into the Witton Lane Stand, will look and sound and feel unusual.

Over the coming months, the fans who make up Villa's limited capacity will have their work cut out for them. Every now and again, teams need the boost Newcastle got from their supporters against Bournemouth.

That one big nudge over the line can count for a lot. It can be worth a point where there were none. It can be worth three points where there was one.

As the songs of the Holte End echo back from the hollow around which the new-look and expanded North Stand shell is being built, overcoming the sheer weirdness of it all might well prove to be to Villa's tangible detriment.

Arsenal conceded a goal on Sunday. Yes, you read that correctly.

After keeping out Coventry City and Aston Villa, the Premier League champions were breached by Chelsea in the second minute of their London derby.

The location of Morgan Rogers' volley was as significant as the fact that it beat Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.

Arsenal's stifling defensive excellence is the stuff of champions

Rogers was inside the 'D' when the ball dropped to him after the Gunners failed to clear the ball from a set piece, the only shot from a sensible distance that Chelsea managed from within the width of the six-yard box.

It's not easy to score against a goalkeeper of Raya's quality from wider angles. Pedro Neto found some space on the right but hit the post with his shot. Estevao's shot produced the best save of the match. There was very little wrong with either beyond the degree of difficulty they had in the first place.

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Arsenal limited the Blues to a total xG of 0.39, five shots on target and zero big chances. Villa's shot map was similar; Mikel Arteta's team are smothering opponents and already reaping the rewards.

Their defensive sturdiness is a compelling cause for optimism at the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal are on the hunt for their first back-to-back titles since the 1930s.

Coventry and Villa were straightforward enough early-season opponents for various reasons but Chelsea, and indeed Community Shield quarry Manchester City, are regarded as potential title challengers.

The champions conceded just 27 goals in the Premier League in 2025/26, the fewest in the division. They gave up 89 shots on target; nobody else averaged less than three per game.

The lowest percentage of shots against that hit the target last term? Arsenal. That's a matter of chance quality and Raya is the best failsafe in the league.

They're at it again in 2026/27. Arsenal's opponents have mustered two shots on target per match and the Gunners are already benefiting from a willingness to force low-percentage efforts and trust Raya to tidy them up.

Ezri Konsa has joined Gabriel in standing guard in the middle, with William Saliba to return from injury at a later date. Their core mission is to anchor Arsenal's central defences, to keep down the quality of the shots faced by their goalkeeper.

Declan Rice's role out of possession shouldn't be overlooked either, not least because Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori – Arsenal's first scorer in Sunday's win over Chelsea – continue to combine their own defensive duties with the attacking burden of inverted full-backs.

In FourFourTwo's opinion, Arsenal are giving themselves a strong foundation from which to mount a title defence.

If they can maintain anything like last season's consistency in limiting big chances, there will be every chance they can still call themselves the Premier League champions this time next year.

Birmingham City owners have wanted to move the club to a new stadium since before any of their current team, unbeaten after five league matches this season, were born.

Tom Wagner is the latest, and the closest yet to putting concrete plans in place. Birmingham’s American owner suffered a stroke in February and Sunday’s Championship match against Wolverhampton Wanderers was the first he’s watched in person since.

Warmly welcomed back, Wagner saw something he already knew: Birmingham might need a new home to fulfil their long-term ambitions but they’re going to lose a lot when they finally say goodbye to the old one.

Birmingham have drawn their first three home fixtures

The Blues finished in the top 10 last season, a good way off promotion in the end, but eighth would be enough for a play-off place for the first time this season and then it’s anyone’s game. Sometimes it really isn’t about the journey.

It took Birmingham 10 matches to reach a third home draw last season and they won six of the others in their first year back in the Championship under Chris Davies. This season, they’ve drawn three out of three at St Andrew’s.

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In 2025-26, Birmingham were in the best four teams at home in the Championship and in the bottom four away. For a club with goals, the obvious objective is to keep the home form strong and capitalise on away improvements to climb the table.

One can be the differentiator, but only if the other remains the foundation.

Davies will still expect both of those outcomes to happen – football seasons don’t develop overnight – but the first home win of 2026-27 is yet to materialise.

Consecutive draws with Southampton and Wolves suggest a deeper truth. Birmingham couldn’t translate them into wins but they put in two positive performances to bag a couple of points against teams who’d back themselves to finish above Blues in April.

This West Midlands derby was every inch the Championship slobberknocker, brimming with chaotic end-to-end football that somehow culminated in Birmingham centre-back Phil Neumann stomping upfield late in the day to create a chance his manager felt should have been turned into a winner.

Davies praised Wolves’ attacking midfielder Fer Lopez after the game. The Spaniard knocked in the first goal of a pulsating 2-2 draw after Tomoki Iwata’s header went astray in the middle of the pitch.

Wolves were almost aggressively confident in possession after they got their noses in front but Birmingham earned their foothold, raised the tempo and dragged the visitors into a derby.

Jay Stansfield controlled a perfect pass from Patrick Roberts – Wolves manager Cesar Peixoto said with his arm, Stansfield insisted not – and thrashed in a tremendous equaliser.

Blues’ home wait goes on – it won’t go on for long

What followed was a Ladislav Krejci header from a corner that put Wolves back in front and one of the great own goals to make it 2-2.

Peixoto defended Jackson Tchatchoua to the hilt after the fact and did the same for Adam Armstrong, whose late miss would in another era have been guaranteed the next spot in a Danny Baker Christmas VHS.

Birmingham had their chances too, notably a header wide from captain Christoph Klarer, and both bosses were left to count the cost of what they considered two points dropped.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Davies won’t have to wait much longer to revel in three points at St Andrew’s.

Birmingham have the same fire at home as last season. The stadium feels the same when the Blues have their tails up and visiting teams still know they’re in for a game. It hasn’t yielded a win yet but it’ll come.

Replicating home wins away will go a long way in the short-term. Maintaining the formidable aura of St Andrew’s once it’s gone will be much more fruitful.

Just 45 days after lining up together for England in the World Cup 2026 third-place play-off, Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney were sharing a pitch again - but in very different surroundings.

This time, the two strikers were on opposing teams and had swapped the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami for Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena, as Watkins marked his Al Hilal debut with a goal in a 3-0 win over Toney’s Al-Ahli on Tuesday.

The former Aston Villa star’s move to the Saudi Pro League means that none of the three centre forwards in England’s World Cup 2026 squad are playing in the Premier League - and it should mark a significant moment in the evolution of the Three Lions’ strike-force.

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Why Thomas Tuchel must be brave and refresh England’s forward line

While the merits of leaving the Premier League for Saudi Arabia are a matter of opinion, one thing’s for certain: England’s strikers are not getting any younger.

Watkins and Toney are both 30 years old, while Harry Kane turned 33 in July. The latter remains one of the best centre forwards in the world, scoring a frankly ridiculous 73 goals in 65 games for Bayern Munich and England last season, and will surely still be his country’s captain when Euro 2028 rolls around.

Whether Watkins and Toney will be at that tournament is up for debate. The pair will both be 32 when the Euros begins and are likely to spend the next two seasons playing in the Saudi Pro League.

That in itself is not necessarily a barrier to getting a call-up, as head coach Thomas Tuchel showed by picking Toney for the June 2025 international window and then recalling him for the World Cup. However, the German already uses both players sparsely and playing in Saudi Arabia is unlikely to change that.

Watkins has won just six caps under Tuchel, playing a total of 177 minutes, with his only starts coming in friendlies against Wales and New Zealand. He featured just twice at the World Cup - once against Panama, when England were 2-0 up, and as a half-time substitute in the third-place play-off against France, with the Three Lions leading 4-0. Toney has played just 122 minutes across four games since Tuchel arrived, although he did start the third-place play-off.

It was notable that neither player was called upon when England needed a goal in the 0-0 group-stage draw with Ghana, or when the games against Panama or DR Congo were in the balance. Toney was brought on with seconds left of the semi-final defeat by Argentina.

That suggests Tuchel isn’t sold on Watkins or Toney, so with both strikers in their 30s and playing in a division that is - with all due respect - a step down from the Premier League, surely it’s time to look elsewhere?

The obvious response to that is, well, who else is there? The dearth of English centre forwards has been a hot topic for several years, with Kane the only truly world-class player in that position and limited options in reserve.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Dominic Solanke appear to be next in line, having been selected for the friendlies against Uruguay and Japan in March. Solanke featured in both games, starting against the South Americans before being replaced by Calvert-Lewin in the 56th minute for the latter’s one runout. However, neither player seized their chance and missed out on the World Cup squad.

Solanke and Calvert-Lewin will be aged 30 and 31 respectively at Euro 2028, but with just 17 senior caps combined, they are hardly proven international strikers. Additionally, while Calvert-Lewin enjoyed a good season at Leeds United last term, Solanke currently can’t get into Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League starting XI.

It is why this is the perfect time for a phased changing of the guard when it comes to England’s strikeforce. None of the players mentioned above are long-term options, so Tuchel should start integrating those who could be part of the squad for a decade or more.

This autumn’s Nations League games may come too early, but then come the Euro 2028 qualifiers, which start next March and hold even less jeopardy than usual for Tuchel’s men. Two places at the tournament will be reserved for the best-ranked co-hosts who fail to qualify, so even if England slip up, they just need to outperform two of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It gives Tuchel plenty of time to look at different players, as well as being an opportunity for the next generation of strikers to force their way into his plans.

Liam Delap leads that group, having already starred in the Premier League when he scored 12 goals for relegated Ipswich Town in 2024/25. The 23-year-old endured a difficult season at Chelsea last term but should be Nottingham Forest’s main man after they spent a club-record £50m to sign him last month. If he hits the ground running, an England call-up in November is not out of the question.

Further down the list is Will Lankshear, who left Tottenham for Championship promotion contenders Middlesbrough this summer for a fee that could rise to £20m. The 21-year-old scored 12 goals on loan at Oxford United during their relegation from the second tier last term and has struck seven times in his first seven games for Boro.

If Lankshear continues to score regularly he will surely be a Premier League player this time next year, whether with Middlesbrough or someone else, increasing his chances of a call-up.

Another one to watch is Villa’s Brian Madjo, who capped an eye-catching performance with a goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup last month. The striker does not turn 18 until January and is currently injured, but should get plenty of minutes when he returns to fitness.

If he impresses in the Premier League, he could be a viable option for Tuchel’s Euros squad.

Of course, the likes of Delap, Lankshear and Madjo must hold up their side of the bargain, but Tuchel also has to be brave enough to select them over safer, more experienced options that he is clearly unconvinced by. He may well thank himself for it when Euro 2028 comes around.

The only place to start this week is to reflect on the summer transfer window. It was a crazy deadline day, and the stand-out deal was undoubtedly Enzo Fernandez’s £125 million move from Chelsea to Manchester City.

No matter what you want to say about Fernandez, he's still a good footballer, and Chelsea would be devastated to lose him. He's not a Rodri replacement, because he's not a number six — I think he's a number eight, or someone who can play higher up that can get forward and get you goals.

Clinton was speaking courtesy of Free Bets, home of the best betting sites in the UK.

'Deadline day disappointment but a good window on the whole for Chelsea'

They’ve also brought in Ayyoub Bouaddi, who’s a fantastic young player. And we all know Elliot Anderson’s qualities in the centre of midfield.

It leaves Man City with a very strong squad, especially when you consider that they’ll have either Rayan Cherki or Phil Foden in the number ten role. There’s lots of competition for places, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Enzo Maresca fits them all into his team.

Meanwhile, it was a disappointing deadline day for Chelsea, but they’ve had a very good window overall.

They’ll be gutted not to have got in a replacement for Fernandez, as I know they were trying to sign Manu Kone from Roma and their manager didn’t want to let him go.

And then you look at Lamine Camara, who's a good player from Monaco. It seemed like they only wanted to sell one of Folarin Balogun or Camara, and both of them have ended up staying at the club.

Chelsea have still got Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson who play in that position, but I feel like they've left themselves one player short in that position.

A player like Camara would have added the energy that they need in midfield. These are all good footballers, but he gives you that energy going from box-to-box.

Looking elsewhere, and the situation surrounding Malick Fofana was crazy. I know Sunderland’s owner went out to Lyon to convince the player to join. In that situation, I wouldn’t say he was forced to choose Sunderland over Crystal Palace, but I think it was inevitable that he would make that decision in those circumstances.

But I do think that if Palace wanted him, why didn't they just go in earlier? Why are you waiting until the last minute? That's what annoys me with clubs. If you want someone and you think that's your number one target, go and get them earlier in the window. It's crazy how clubs just wait until the end of the window.

Fofana is someone I’ve seen play a lot for Lyon. He’s an exciting player and is a good signing for Sunderland. It is what it is - it was a crazy situation watching it unravel.

If I’m looking at who I think has been the best signing of the summer in the Premier League overall, I’d have to pick Bruno Guimaraes’ move to Arsenal for £75 million. I think he'll be a fantastic signing. That’s closely followed by Youri Tielemans move to Manchester United for £35 million, which seems like the cost of a cup of tea in transfer terms these days!

But I still Man United have left themselves short after this window, and they ultimately failed to bring in a left-back. Crystal Palace brought in Ben Chilwell, and that would’ve been a great option. But he’s only a couple of years younger than Luke Shaw, and they probably wanted a young and hungry left-back.

The one they really wanted was Lewis Hall at Newcastle United and were desperate to get him, so that was a big disappointment for Man United.

I still feel they need to make improvements right along that backline with a new right-back, left-back, and probably a new centre-half too.

In previous windows, they've focused on attackers first and looked at their midfield in this window. I think their focus in the next window has to be in the defensive positions.

Those defensive weaknesses are probably why they won't challenge to win the Premier League at this moment in time.

But the transfer window will soon become a distant memory, as we turn our attention back to the games on the pitch.

The stand-out Premier League game this weekend has to be between Arsenal and Chelsea, which will be the first big test for Mikel Arteta’s side this season.

It will be a massive game, because Chelsea's front three will cause Arsenal's defenders a lot of problems, but Arsenal's attackers will cause Chelsea's defenders problems. So it's an interesting game.

I'm not working, I'll be sat in front of the TV, chilling and relaxing, watching the game. I think it'll be a fantastic match.

We will see where Chelsea really are against the champions, and see whether they are ready to make a title challenge this season.

As Everton fans prepared to bid an emotional farewell to Goodison Park, David Moyes offered up a rare dose of positivity and an even scarcer message of hope.

The Scot’s reputation for downplaying expectations had earned a nickname of ‘Dithering Dave’ which long preceded his return to the hot seat in January 2025. But Moyes managed to strike the right note after the final Everton men’s first team match at their spiritual home with a genuine mission statement.

“This club felt like, to me, one which was a big family but looked broken, felt broken – and it doesn’t feel like that anymore,” he began. “I hope the owners are recognising what they’re seeing today as well, because this is to be built up, brought back and get us back to where we belong - and where we believe we should be. There are 100 players here today who played in some great games here and have been in some great teams. We have to now try to make that happen again.”

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Everton owners’ greed is destroying the club

Barely 15 months since that rousing on-field address, life in the blue half of Merseyside has again become fractured following a summer transfer window underpinned by worryingly familiar traits of deception and dismay for royal-blue devotees.

When owners the Friedkin Group (TFG) pitched up, just six months before the Toffees made the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium, they arrived with the usual promises of a brighter tomorrow. Head honcho Dan Friedkin pledged to ‘contribute positively’ to the club’s history and strong local identity while executive chairman Marc Watts vowed the Americans would ‘usher Everton into a new era, one that is marked by ambition and professionalism’. This summer made a total mockery of those boastful soundbites.

A fortnight after Angus Kinnear publicly assured hand-picked fan media that the club was finally back on a firm financial footing, TFG well and truly shattered that illusion.

The CEO's previous claims of a 'two-summer window plan' have also fallen by the wayside as surreptitious attempts to sell homegrown star Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest, only scrapped after fan backlash at Bournemouth, marked the start of a chaotic countdown to the end of the market.

Attempts to pin the entire saga on the owners affords them far too much credit on knowing the value players within the current squad could fetch, especially with Armstrong still only a peripheral figure despite the growing fanfare around his clear potential.

An established light-touch approach to life at Hill Dickinson Stadium precluded them from making such calls without a helping hand from the likes of Kinnear and recruitment chief Nick Cox.

Moyes’s squad is now alarmingly paper-thin until January with just 18 established outfield players at his disposal, including Thierno Barry as their sole recognised striker.

They ranked 18th for net spend in the Premier League, at a time when eye-watering amounts were sloshing about, while holding an equally dubious honour of the lowest squad value from all the top flight's 17 non-promoted teams.

Unlike his many predecessors, the likes of whom only broke their silences on transfer frustrations after leaving the job with the gift of hindsight and often creative licence, the manager remained forthright about Everton’s market shortcomings throughout a summer in when he took a rare step of not conducting media interviews until the last possible moment.

A late pursuit of Folarin Balogun ended in farcical fashion with the Monaco marksman walking away from formalities at Finch Farm in the final hours of deadline day. Prior to the United States international’s U-turn, Everton took a scattergun approach to alternatives; exploring a loan deal for Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee as well as Tammy Abraham at Aston Villa which failed to find favour with either party.

Iliman Ndiaye’s departure, joining Manchester City after a brief flirtation with Tottenham, was widely expected but his upfront £60m sale left a sour taste. Initial plans to offload the Senegal international to north London for an identical fee were offset by the prospect of Richarlison returning to his former club in a £35m deal - the exact figure he had cost eight years prior, without the added tax of injuries or advancing age. Another loan spell for Jack Grealish, returning from the Etihad Stadium for a second summer, did little to soften the blow of losing Everton’s most potent attacking source in recent times.

More than £100m was recouped in player sales on the final day of the window, almost double what Everton spent throughout the entire summer. It was asset stripping on an industrial scale and comparable with the January 2023 window that marked the beginning of the end for Farhad Moshiri's ruinous premiership.

Suspicions that Friedkin and his son Ryan saw a financially troubled yet consistently top flight club with an impressive new stadium on the horizon and sensed an opportunity to sweat the asset are becoming increasingly inescapable for many supporters. Instead of offering accountability for a botched recruitment strategy, the hierarchy has doubled down on a collective vow of silence while the absentee owners have already embarked on sounding out potential investors to dilute their near-total shareholding.

The approach is in stark contrast to their continued handling of AS Roma, where they remain far from beloved. Fans in the Eternal City have told them to ‘go home’ during routine periods of tumult, yet that abrasive relationship appears to only have strengthened their resolve to address concerns head-on and often in person. Every cough and sneeze emanating from Trigoria prompts swift intervention, especially in the season when the Giallorossi endured a three-manager turnover during 2024/25.

Successive point deductions for breaching the Premier League’s now defunct Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) forearmed Evertonians from falling into the trap of believing that spending would be endless under the group who succeeded the perennially aloof Moshiri. But even those realistic expectations have not been met by an ownership whose priorities clearly lie away from the banks of the Mersey, with plans to launch an NHL franchise in their native Texas to sit within an already skewed sporting portfolio.

American owners are, by nature, ruthless operators but the Friedkins have taken that vulture capitalism to new levels. Kinnear’s declaration that his superiors are ‘winners’ lack credible evidence in their handling of a club with sizeable potential and an equally fervent fanbase, as they will have seen at the Vitality Stadium last weekend. Travelling supporters warned on the South Coast that their transatlantic overlords would have ‘a riot’ on their hands if Armstrong was sold from under their noses but the threat of uproar is not going away anytime soon.

Atmosphere group The 1878s have already confirmed pre-match displays for home matches will be 'stood down' for the foreseeable future in light of the recent transfer shambles while others are threatening to make a small dent in Hill Dickinson Stadium's profit margins by refusing to spend a penny inside, starting with Sunday afternoon's visit of Manchester United.

Healing the current division lies squarely at the feet of the Friedkins as well as those they have delegated to run Everton, very poorly it must be said, in their absence. This week’s events suggest that neither have the stomach to fix the mess that they created.

Just two games in, Premier League referees are already facing an uphill battle this season.

Controversial incidents in the English top flight remained minimal during the new campaign’s opening fortnight, but officials find themselves back under the spotlight of scrutiny through no real fault of their own after Mike Dean’s supposed revelations.

In a series of outlandish claims on Jamie Vardy’s ‘Having A Party’ podcast, Dean declared he would ‘joke about’ on refereeing duties in the Premier League’s pre-VAR era. He purportedly played a series of ‘secret games’ that included refusing to blow his whistle until the 20th minute and standing in the centre circle for as long as possible.

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Mike Dean's claims put referees under fresh suspicion

Professional Game Referees were quick to cast doubt on the 58-year-old’s boastful claims, making it known that no credible evidence exists to suggest he engaged in such antics before the Premier League introduced VAR from the 2019/20 season.

But Dean’s version of events about what he did ‘as a laugh’ while in charge of English football’s flagship fixtures has now pointed a fresh finger of suspicion towards those continuing to carry out officiating duties since he hung up his whistle in May 2022.

Dean knows all too well how damaging misperceptions can be. He received death threats in 2021 over red cards awarded in successive games to West Ham’s Tomas Soucek and Jan Bednarek of Southampton that were overturned on appeal. On a less severe note, the latter years of his career were dogged by claims of favouritism towards Liverpool due to having two fictitious sons who were Anfield season ticket holders.

At best, his soundbites are Walter Mitty-esque; entirely devoid of factual evidence and vindicate Arsene Wenger’s December 2017 retort that he is ‘not honest’ – which earned the legendary Arsenal manager both a three-match ban and £40,000 fine for his troubles. Taken at face value, however, he has opened a tinderbox of potential untold damage on his former colleagues and the regulatory body led by Howard Webb.

This is hardly Dean’s first rodeo, either. In 2023, mere months after standing down from VAR duties, he confessed to refusing to flag Cristian Romero’s hair pull on Marc Cucurella to his ‘mate’ Anthony Taylor in Chelsea and Tottenham’s fiery 2-2 draw in order to spare the referee ‘more grief’. He also isn’t the first former official who allowed his mouth to run away with itself while sat in the comfort of a podcast studio. Mark Clattenburg infamously revealed how he allowed Spurs to ‘self-destruct’ while overseeing 'The Battle of Stamford Bridge’ in 2016 that saw Leicester City crowned unlikely champions.

To hear these alleged tales of yore gives the impression that those still entrusted to uphold the laws of the game are part of a morally bankrupt boys' club, not too dissimilar to the one depicted in the referees' episode of the sitcom 'Inside Number 9'.

Football fans already hold an increasingly dim view of the men in the middle, as the instant chants decrying the Premier League as 'corrupt' after every contentious decision attest. Accusations of club-specific biases by some of the current household names continue to run rampant in both the stands and social media echo chambers.

Webb's attempts to soften the dissent by pulling back the curtain on in-game discussions between appointed officials in monthly video segments analysing controversial calls has provided a new perspective on thought processes. On occasion, the Pro Ref chief has even acknowledged times when his own men got things wrong.

However Dean's remarks, whether true or not, have immediately undermined those efforts to provide transparency and convince supporters that impartiality still guides those tasked with ensuring matches run according to the letter of the law.

Every call, no matter how minor, will now automatically be viewed from a position of mistrust all thanks to Dean's latest attempt to grab another 15 seconds of fame.

If it wasn't enough for Manchester City to break the British transfer record on ex-Chelsea man Enzo Fernandez, willingly handing him Kevin De Bruyne's shirt number rather than retiring it, even just temporarily, tells you everything you need to know.

Premier League fans have had it easy when it comes to making that claim, yet the Cityzens keep giving them ammunition.

If being the defining figure across six English top-flight title wins isn't enough for a statue, a temporarily-retired shirt number, or a dedicated wing at the training ground, what is?

Enzo taking De Bruyne's shirt number so soon is wrong

There will be a section of angry Man City fans that will argue De Bruyne's legacy is not being tarred, and that he will forever be respected, regardless of whether his shirt number is in another player's possession.

But it's the principle: if you secure two PFA Players' Player of the Year awards, six Premier League titles, four Playmaker Awards, all as the cornerstone of City's golden era, that number belongs to you.

Whether De Bruyne himself minds or not, it's a show of respect that any serious clubs should offer to the legends that define them.

And before the question is raised: yes, Manchester City are different to other clubs that didn't retire the shirt numbers of other defining legends, such as Wayne Rooney's '10', or Steven Gerrard's '8'.

That is because, in the grand scheme of history, De Bruyne is more akin to icons at Liverpool and Manchester United in the 20th Century. Besides, '17' is far easier to retire as a number than the aforementioned pair.

The club does not possess the same history as its closest rivals, and it is De Bruyne who will go down as one of the first-ever Manchester City legends that raised the club to its ever-growing present.

But to give his number away within two years, to the first player that asked for it? Not even a buffer period, or to a player who has earned the right to 'stand where he stood'?

Nobody is asking for the Belgian's '17' to be withheld indefinitely — although, it's not the worst idea — but to give it to Enzo?

The same Enzo disciplined for singing homophobic and racist chants with his national team, who wielded an anti-Falklands banner in the summer after beating England, and got himself sent off by turning Pau Cubarsi into Simone Biles in the World Cup final?

The same Enzo who practically begged for a Real Madrid move while at Chelsea, and was removed from the squad ahead of an FA Cup quarter-final?

What has always held Manchester City back from being taken as seriously as their Premier League peers, is the idea that players who arrive there do so for money, not for the badge.

It's the idea that Manchester City, more so than their rivals, pay to see success, rather than breed it by creating a culture and environment that superstars would virtually pay to join.

And it's why the Manchester club time and time again are branded by opposition fans as soulless.

But one thing is for certain, the Cityzens have failed to honour one of the few players that nobody doubts adored their club.

If the Belgian's statue is being constructed behind the scenes, they better start carving the stone quicker.

There is an argument that Chelsea are better at conducting transfers than they are at winning football matches. This summer's window has done nothing to redress that balance.

While rival fans mock and scoff at the volume of transfer activity at Stamford Bridge, the reality is they're quite good at it. Xabi Alonso’s side have emerged from the 2026 summer window stronger, more balanced, and the undisputed kings of the transfer market.

The marquee acquisition of Morgan Rogers is excellent business, even at a premium price. Signing Rogers gives Chelsea what could be the most lethal front three in the Premier League alongside Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro, supported by enviable depth in reserve.

Chelsea's transfer window mastery

Equal significance lies at the opposite end of the pitch, where landing 2022 World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez provides an immediate upgrade on Robert Sanchez, and solves a problem position that has plagued the club for several seasons.

Chelsea finished the window £35 million in the black, despite signing £349m worth of players. The club recouped a staggering £384m in player sales, extracting significant fees for the likes of Liam Delap, Nicolas Jackson, and joint-British record man Enzo Fernandez.

Even in Alonso's brief tenure to date, Chelsea's recruitment has evolved, perhaps due to the Spaniard's influence, moving away from the rigid, youth-exclusive early iterations of the BlueCo transfer model.

Recognising that raw potential requires established leadership to properly flourish, the ex-Real Madrid manager sanctioned the arrivals of Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck, and the aforementioned Martinez. Inserting three seasoned campaigners into the dressing room provides the maturity, leadership, and also winning pedigree necessary to give the squad a more balanced feel.

But the youthful talent pipeline remains as vibrant as ever, too. The additions of Marco Palestra, Valentin Barco, and Geovany Quenda inject energy and genuine competition for places across the pitch. Paired with veteran guidance, Chelsea’s squad profile looks healthier than at any point in recent memory.

Perhaps most impressive was Chelsea’s execution in clearing out the periphery of their squad.

Unused players who faced exclusion from the Premier League’s 25-man squad list - including Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, and Mykhailo Mudryk - were successfully moved on, most for modest transfer fees.

Despite rival clubs knowing Chelsea needed to trim the edges of their first-team group, the Blues negotiated well. In doing so, they generated vital capital given their underlying financial situation, while avoiding contravention of FIFA and FIFPRO’s new anti-’bomb squad’ regulations, which grants powers to isolated players to demand free transfers.

Naturally, no transfer window is completely flawless and Chelsea's is no different. Missing out on deadline day midfield targets Lamine Camara and Manu Kone leaves Alonso slightly lighter in central areas than ideal following Fernandez’s departure to Manchester City.

Looking at the window from a big picture perspective, Chelsea have, somehow, pulled it off, again. Generating £384m in sales while leaving the squad demonstrably stronger, balanced, and stacked with depth is an achievement, make no mistake. With no European football to distract from domestic ambitions, Stamford Bridge is primed for a serious campaign.

If transfer windows are meant to reflect a football club’s long-term vision, Everton’s summer 2026 recruitment was a masterclass in panic, indecision and dysfunction. The Toffees' window shows nothing less than a club all at sea: decades removed from their last trophy lift, and decades away from their next.

After years of walking the financial tightrope and navigating Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) penalties, this was supposed to be the summer where the club established a clear, modern direction in their new home.

Ending deadline day in a far more precarious position than when the window opened - desperately short on attacking options and publicly lacking strategic conviction - is not how anybody wanted things to go.

Everton have outdone themselves - and not in a good way

Nowhere was this misstep more glaring than in Everton’s handling of their forward line. Sanctioning the departures of both Beto and Iliman Ndiaye on transfer deadline day was always going to be a gamble. But, doing so without getting replacements through the door is nothing more than a whopping error.

To leave David Moyes with 23-year-old Thierno Barry as the club’s sole recognised senior striker is...errr...not good. A promising up-and-comer he may be, but Barry netted eight goals in 41 appearances across all competitions for the Toffees last season - not something to hang your hat on.

Why wait until the eleventh hour of transfer deadline day to conclude such important business, especially when Ndiaye’s eventual exit was predictable for weeks?

Moyes himself pulled no punches regarding the state of his squad. Speaking after Everton’s 4-0 Carabao Cup victory over Preston North End, the Scot gave a characteristically blunt assessment of the club's transfer progress.

“I still think we are short in the squad and I still think we are short in quality in some places.”

Moyes noted that, despite incoming signings, the squad was numerically thinner than last season's already depleted group. His post-match comments were a clear instruction for reinforcements that ultimately went unheeded, not by design, but that's by-the-by now.

A deal for Monaco’s Folarin Balogun was on the verge of completion before Everton’s medical staff identified issues during his medical, prompting the club to halt proceedings.

The Toffees immediately pivoted to Manchester United outcast Joshua Zirkzee. Perhaps upon witnessing the wave of negative supporter backlash, Everton’s leadership got cold feet. In an attempt to salvage face, they tried to revive the Balogun deal, only for the US international to turn down the move entirely.

Comically, the USA striker walked out of Everton's training base late into the night, returning to the principality.

The resulting collapse left Everton empty-handed - a terrible look that epitomises a club operating without internal alignment.

Their lack of conviction in decision-making was exhibited in the earlier saga surrounding 19-year-old midfielder Harrison Armstrong. Everton had agreed a reported £40m deal to sell the academy graduate to Nottingham Forest - a move most likely driven by executives eyeing financial compliance.

But, following furious dissent from the fanbase, the hierarchy executed a U-turn. While keeping a talented youngster is welcome, backing out of a massive sale purely due to public outrage demonstrates a boardroom lacking internal conviction. If the club genuinely needed the funds, capitulating at the first sign of supporter anger suggests they are making policy on the fly.

To cap off a rather unimaginative window, Everton opted to re-sign Jack Grealish, as well as adding Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but not another left-back. While Grealish possesses undeniable talent, committing a massive wage package to an expensive loan signing feels short-sighted, and a sticking plaster over the remainder of their window.

Everton enter the 2026/27 campaign with a paper-thin squad, an exasperated manager, and a fanbase utterly bewildered by the handling of the window. By waiting until deadline day, bowing to public pressure, and bungling negotiations, Everton have turned what could have been a transformative summer into months of clock-watching for the January sales.

At least doughnuts will be served for another year at the Hill Dickinson, right, Everton fans?

Southampton sold Taylor Harwood-Bellis to Aston Villa on transfer deadline day but their former defender created the emblem that will follow them around for the rest of the season.

The Harwood-Bellis binoculars will be adopted at grounds up and down the Championship, a gleeful reminder that Southampton sought an unfair advantage last term and ended up knocking themselves out of the play-offs instead.

Saints chairman Dragan Solak showed an extraordinary degree of faith in manager Tonda Eckert. His team lost their shot at promotion and were docked four points for 2026-27 but Eckert remains in his post and Southampton have a plan.

Eckert’s Southampton are playing on the front foot and outscoring Championship rivals

There were times last season when Southampton in the Premier League seemed extremely unlikely. Eckert turned those fortunes around and has been given the courtesy of a chance to prove where their results did and didn’t come from.

Not all ownership groups would have responded in the same way. It’s up to Eckert to show that he warrants the backing.

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It’s goals that are his weapon of choice in the wake of ‘Spygate’ and Southampton are delivering.

Saints’ 1-1 entertaining draw at Birmingham City might look at first glance like a quieter night at the office. Viewed from a certain angle, though, it’s evidence that a high-scoring team can go away to the division’s toughest grounds and eke out results.

Eckert’s team have scored 10 goals in their four Championship matches. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers – thanks to a Konstantinos Mavrapanos own goal – have scored more. Southampton’s expected goals (xG) value is the highest in the second tier, 1.5 goals higher than Wolves.

They’ve outscored their xG even so, and the player most responsible for putting away those chances is striker Cyle Larin, who scored twice against Millwall in the win that took Southampton into positive points and off the foot of the table.

The Canadian had two very presentable chances at St Andrew’s but failed to hit the target with either. Eckert was unmoved when asked about his number nine, saying that he’s put everything away so far.

On a night when it was their opponents who had the majority of the game’s big chances, Southampton’s goal came from another source. Defender Keven Schlotterbeck thumped them into the lead with a header from a corner in first-half stoppage time before August Priske equalised 10 minutes into the second half.

The visitors returned to the south coast with one point rather than three but moved up one more rung on the long ladder back, and Eckert can take encouragement from a set piece goal and the return of former captain James Ward-Prowse, whose free kicks at Birmingham drew a good save from James Beadle and led to a disallowed Kuryu Matsuki goal.

Ward-Prowse’s golf-club supply adds to the more fluid influence of Finn Azaz. The 25-year-old remains a crucial component in Eckert’s supply line, playing line-breaking passes from deep and creating at closer quarters higher up the pitch.

All these cogs and more are turning in the name of goals and firepower could be the essence of Eckert’s second promotion quest. Southampton will make mistakes at the back, will concede goals; they did both against Birmingham.

With Larin firing, set pieces producing, Ward-Prowse pitching and wedging, and Azaz’s artistry packing a punch, opposition managers will know that their first job is to keep Southampton out.

The ability of Eckert’s team to keep making chances and taking them at a clinical rate will be key if they’re to bounce back after the brutal heartbreak of a unique and self-inflicted setback at the end of last season.

Joao Gomes won’t forget his Aston Villa debut in a hurry. On his early return from injury, the midfielder started an awful performance with a yellow card and ended it with a straight red. He played 39 minutes and Villa were already 4-0 down.

Their first half at Brighton & Hove Albion in the first Premier League match of the season was reflected in Gomes’ display and was a brutal reminder that decimating a football team by ripping out its spine is going to make life difficult.

Playing Arsenal is its own challenge but Villa’s first game already had the feel of a season nadir. It could get worse for Unai Emery before it gets better. Fortunately for Villa, his very presence is their saving grace.

Can Villa shake it all about and avoid a decline?

It would be naïve to pretend that everything at Villa is hunky-dory and they’ll be cruising through to the latter rounds of the Champions League while maintaining a top-four spot, but the sheer heft of their incoming transfer business is a counterweight to the black clouds gathering over the early part of the season.

Emery and president of football operations Roberto Olabe have revolutionised Villa’s squad. Nicolas Jackson, Johan Manzambi, Alejandro Garnacho and the arrival of Ibrahim Mbaye add to a pacy attack at the front of a team younger and more financially future-proofed than the one they’re replacing.

Medium-term sellability is something Villa must take very seriously if they’re to avoid stumbling back into the trap that led to six of the players who started the Europa League final in May leaving before the end of August.

Villa’s new signings offer hope for tomorrow but today and yesterday have been bruising. There’s no getting away from it.

Lucas Digne. Youri Tielemans. Morgan Rogers. Ezri Konsa. Emiliano Martinez. Ollie Watkins. That list of names will be etched into the memories of Villa supporters, for better, for worse, forever.

The exodus has the potential to be a disaster. Unavoidable in isolation but bearing the fingerprints of poor decisions past, such drastic change has compelled various pundits to speak of doom and disarray.

They might have a case. At the very least, a decline in Villa’s fortunes on the field is likelier than not. That’s as much about the heights of 2025-26 as the pitfalls of 2026-27.

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The Emery model will be put to the test this season

Emery himself is the single reason why decline is likelier than disaster and neither is inevitable.

Speaking to the media before the Arsenal game, the Villa boss tossed away the word that’s been on the lips even of optimistic supporters.

“In football, if you are expecting a transition, then maybe you are not in the right way,” he said. “We must compete and win, rebuilding the team as fast as possible. We have to accept our way and our decisions and why we are taking some decisions. I am positive.”

Next time The T Word comes up in a Villa context, remember that the manager has no truck with the idea. It’s that attitude that encapsulates everything Emery has brought to the club.

Notwithstanding his evident annoyance over Watkins’ absence against Brighton, Emery has come across as more positive and more fired-up at the start of this season than ever before.

He’s clearly raring to go the moment the transfer window is closed – Emery hates the transfer window – and he can get back to the task he’s excellent at.

Something else that’s often overlooked is that Emery, while not immune to poor results, is embedded in a club where he has near-total control over football matters. There are few eggs laid at Villa Park these days that don’t drop straight into the Emery basket.

It’s a spectacularly risky strategy on the part of Villa’s owners in an era of head coaches and sporting directors, but their faith in the boss has proved rewarding thus far. The manager and the model are in the foothills of their greatest challenge yet, and this season will put them both to the test.

They’ve already made a big noise together. Now, Villa can start to see the quiet return of the club’s trust in Emery.

The next few months and maybe a few more beyond that are bound to be a difficult spell. Villa have rebuilt quickly in terms of personnel, but teams take longer.

They have a manager who’s both emotionally invested enough to be committed through the rough stuff and good enough to justify the patience of Nassef Sawiris while it happens.

Anything could happen at Villa this season. Upheaval is a destructive force in football, and continuity can go a long way. Villa have precious little of that, but the one sturdy pillar they do have is the most important of all.

Last season, much was made of Hugo Ekitike, a standout striker in a faltering Liverpool attack, whose season tragically ended with an achilles tear versus PSG in the Champions League.

Erling Haaland won the Golden Boot (for the third time in four seasons, with only Mohamed Salah able to disrupt his streak) and the Frenchman hit 11 Premier League goals in 28 appearances.

For all the noise surrounding Ekitike, and Haaland’s Golden Boot procession, a certain Brazilian was quietly staking his claim as the Premier League’s next best striker. This season, he will realise it.

Joao Pedro will win the 2026/27 Golden Boot, here's why

Joao Pedro, like his French peer, was equally a standout in a failing Chelsea machine. He ended the season with the Blues’ Player of the Season award, and 15 Premier League goals in 35 appearances.

In all competitions, that total rose to 20, three more than Ekitike’s haul, and he equalled the Frenchman’s assist tally of six.

Despite his season-ending injury, Ekitike made just five fewer appearances than Pedro, and neither striker took penalties, with spot kick responsibilities falling to Salah and Cole Palmer.

Both attackers were clinical in their finishing: Pedro bagged 15 top-flight strikes from an xG of 14.96, and Ekitike struck 11 from an xG of 9.87.

But how will the Brazilian dethrone Haaland, who finished the Premier League season with a whopping 27 goals and was Manchester City’s penalty-taker?

To state the obvious, this isn’t the same Cityzens side that the Norwegian has played in since his debut campaign in 2022/23, when he broke the 38-game goal record.

To state the less obvious, and bear with, Haaland winning the Golden Boot would make for his fourth in five years, and tie him in the standings for most of all time alongside the Premier League’s greatest: Thierry Henry and Salah.

Will the football Gods allow him to tie that record? Both the Liverpool and Arsenal goalscorers played at least eight top-flight seasons to reach four Golden Boots, while Haaland is set to do so in virtually as many years as he has been in England.

FourFourTwo doesn’t believe so, and a historical rewind might just prove it. Many assumed a decade ago that Harry Kane would have broken the Golden Boot record with ease, so, why didn’t he?

The answer is, of course, Salah. The Egyptian steamrolled the league in his debut Liverpool season by, like Haaland, breaking the Premier League goal record. His tally of 32 denied Kane a third Boot, despite the Englishman hitting a staggering 30 Premier League goals — he even swore on his daughter’s life to have one of them recorded in his name.

Five seasons later, Salah was on track to achieve his fourth Golden Boot in 2022/23, so, why didn’t he? Again, the answer is obvious: a man named Erling Haaland arrived.

And when Haaland looked all but certain to three-peat in 2024/25, the Egyptian turned back the clock to claim his fourth, delivering the greatest individual season in Premier League history.

The point is, when goalscorers of Kane, Salah and Haaland’s calibre play in this league, it appears all but inevitable that the award will go to them. But when the Golden Boot record is on the line, someone, somehow, emerges out of nowhere to prevent it from being claimed so easily.

It is Pedro who will be the foil this season — a clinical, multi-faceted goalscorer playing in a Chelsea system that has begun the campaign in rock-and-roll fashion by winning games 4-3 and 3-2.

This is a high-scoring attack, with two top-tier creative players in Palmer and Morgan Rogers, and Pedro is the finishing centre-point. He already has two-in-two, as does Haaland, but this is the season in which the Brazilian won’t slow. The Norwegian, on the other hand, has entered mid-season slumps in each of his previous two campaigns, and life under Maresca won’t be as peachy as it was under Pep Guardiola.

Perhaps hitting 30 goals remains out of reach for the Blues forward, but Haaland will likely be kept in the low 20s as he adapts to a new Manchester City team and system. With Ekitike unlikely to return as the same player post-injury, and Alexander Isak certain to struggle in a Liverpool front-line that requires a season, at minimum, to adapt, Pedro’s path to the Golden Boot appears clear.

Chelsea might be a few seasons away from developing the class required to win a Premier League title, but their clinical Brazilian is already there.

Even after relegation scares in back-to-back seasons, the most pessimistic of Spurs supporters probably wouldn't have predicted being rock bottom after two games, with a -5 goal difference.

Or perhaps they would have, from recent trauma build-up. Still, Tottenham Hotspur’s summer incomings have been impressive, and arrived with an expectation of achieving European football this season.

But the North London club, at best, could be considered slightly overzealous in regard to its expenditure this summer, and their haste in helping to solve Chelsea’s wage bill issue is worrying, to say the least.

Tottenham Hotspur secure services of Chelsea duo, but why?

Ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline at 11pm BST, Spurs look set to secure the services of Chelsea duo Mykhailo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo.

Their London rivals are willing to shift the pair in an effort to solve their wage bill issues, and Spurs seem all too eager to aid them in this regard.

Mudryk will sign on a season-long loan, while Adarabioyo is expected to move on a permanent transfer for around £7 million — combined, they recorded zero goals and zero assists in 23 Premier League appearances last season.

Chelsea, in contrast to the North London club, are fourth in the Premier League table, having taken two wins from two against Brighton and Fulham — blockbuster 3-2 and 4-3 victories.

Last season, they finished in 10th, accumulating just nine additional points to Spurs’ tally of 41, which saw them capable of being relegated all the way until the Premier League’s final gameweek.

If you stare hard enough, you’ll find that there was likely an expectation for the two clubs to perform as peers this season, yet Tottenham Hotspur have, rather alarmingly, found themselves vacuuming the crumbs up off the floor in Chelsea’s kitchen.

And that should worry fans of the North London club — after an initially serious summer in which Spurs secured the services of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Savio, Jan Paul van Hecke, Omar Marmoush, and further Premier League-proven talent, this is a concerning sign.

It’s one thing to take players from Manchester City; Enzo Maresca’s men will likely challenge for the Premier League title this season, and the Savio-Marmoush duo bring multiple top-level seasons of experience under Pep Guardiola’s wing to London.

But a pair of 'B squad' players from Chelsea with little observable Premier League impact? What benefits could this duo bring that outweigh the positive impact it will have on the Blues’ wage bill, and their rivals’ ability to compete?

How good can Mudryk and Tosin possibly be, for paying £7m and the pair’s wages, to prevent Chelsea from getting the last laugh here?

During a summer in which Spurs appeared determined to turn a page, their performances on the pitch have scarcely improved, and their transfer business will conclude on a sour note.

And while fans of the North London club will surely stay focused on seeing the likes of Fernandes, Tonali, Savio and Marmoush come good, they should keep a closer eye on the duo that Chelsea appear overwhelmingly likely to have fleeced them for.

At the fourth time of asking, Arsenal secured the Premier League title in their third race against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City last season.

Previously, they fell to the Cityzens in 2022/23 after leading for the campaign’s bulk, again in 2023/24, then to a Mohamed Salah-led Liverpool in 2024/25.

The Gunners, who secured the English top-flight crown with 85 points in May, have never retained the Premier League title, however, their quest to do so now appears slightly easier, and less expensive, following an accidental discovery versus Aston Villa.

Do Arsenal really need a left winger?

Mikel Arteta’s men emerged victorious on Monday evening, taking home three points following a 1-0 victory at Villa Park.

New signing Christos Tzolis, who began his Gunners career with two assists in Arsenal's Community Shield final victory versus Manchester City, was hooked at half-time against Villa, with the score tied at 0-0.

In came Eberechi Eze, who featured on the left wing for the second half’s duration, in which Arsenal took the lead, and then maintained it, through Bukayo Saka.

Arteta’s side are not short on attacking depth, despite the loss of youngster Ethan Nwaneri to Borussia Dortmund on loan, and the departure of Gabriel Martinelli to Saudi Arabia.

That was evidenced by both players being absent from the Community Shield final squad, in which the North London club ran riot from an offensive perspective, scoring three in under 50 minutes.

On the bench that day were Eze, Saka, Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice, with Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Bruno Guimaraes and Tzolis handed starts versus Enzo Maresca’s side.

And with Eze’s appearance against Villa, it appears that any fears regarding reinforcement on the left flank have been alleviated, with the Englishman well-adjusted to challenge for the role.

The statistics painted a clear picture: 80% pass accuracy, three duels won, seven carries for a total distance of almost 100 metres, one of which being progressive, and six kilometres covered.

And, more importantly, three points for the Gunners after a dominant second half — limiting the chasing Villans to 0.24 Expected Goals (xG) while Arteta’s side racked up 0.7, and bagged the deciding goal.

Much has been made of Arsenal’s strength in the position, yet Eze’s appearance now certainly warrants consideration as an alternate to Tzolis.

The Gunners reportedly tried their luck with Malick Fofana at Lyon, but were rebuffed after low-balling for the player. That appears to have allowed Sunderland to sign the winger for a price the French club deem more acceptable, in one of the strongest deals of the summer transfer window.

Positioned second in the Premier League table, and yet to concede a goal, the future appears bright for Arteta’s side. And fans would be forgiven for interpreting Eze’s cameo as a firm statement — Arsenal can retain their top-flight title, and they already hold all the necessary keys to do so.

At the start of the summer, most Liverpool supporters and observers would have identified three key areas of the team that needed addressing in the transfer market.

The obvious was a winger to effectively replace Mohamed Salah. In signing Bradley Barcola, Liverpool have done that but on the opposite wing.

Barcola, though, you could argue, is actually the replacement for Luis Diaz, who departed the year before.

Liverpool's glaring right-back issue

The next two positions that most supporters would have wanted to see addressed also revolved around the lack of replacing other previously departed legends.

Fabinho left Liverpool three years ago now, but still his role in midfield as a defence-first player hasn’t been replaced.

While Trent Alexander-Arnold left a year ago and no matter how hard he tries, Jeremie Frimpong simply isn’t a replacement, or even an actual right back.

Liverpool, though, have gone through the summer seemingly without any desire to add either a midfielder or a right-back, despite the clear need in each instance.

Arguably it’s at right-back which is the biggest issue, although both full-back positions are areas of major concern and this was highlighted in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest - Andoni Iraola's first home game in charge.

Frimpong and Milos Kerkez were hooked in the 72nd minute, with Liverpool 2-1 down at the time.

Now, there are potentially several other reasons (not least youngster Trey Nyoni's impressive cameo in midfield) why Iraola’s team enjoyed their best 20 minutes of the game from that point on, but certainly a contributing factor was the full-backs being replaced.

Szoboszlai can learn like Milner - and become a better midfielder

Dominik Szobsozlai, as he was regularly last season, moved to right-back, immediately giving Liverpool a player who can actually put in a cross and also be defensively stronger than the player he was replacing.

The Hungarian might not necessarily like playing there, but Iraola could do far worse than have the same conversation Jurgen Klopp had with James Milner in 2016 in explaining how he wanted the midfielder to be his left-back for the season ahead.

A year later, Milner explained what he learned in the new position: “But at times you have to curb that and adapt to the match situation and maybe sometimes hold back a bit if the time of the game suits that. I think sensing danger early is the biggest thing to learn. When you play in midfield you’re obviously always switched on to defending.”

Those words about “sensing danger early” are incredibly timely, with Iraola’s pre-Nottingham Forest press conference featuring a very similar message when discussing his midfield’s need to find a balance after being caught out twice by Newcastle in the opening fixture.

“There are players that are very good, they’re smelling, ‘OK, there is real danger, I can’t take the risk of going (forward),” explained Iraola. “Now I think I have to stay’. “Recognising those situations is the job we have to do now.”

A season at right-back, then, would actually help Szoboszlai learn that side of his game and make him a better midfielder in future. That should be the message Iraola gives him in order to get the Reds’ No. 8 to buy into the role.

Would Szoboszlai particularly enjoy it? Probably not, but it’s about what’s best for the team, as Milner succinctly explained: “It’s about whatever’s best for the team and ultimately I just want to be out there playing games, contributing and helping this football club.”

And if Szoboszlai has designs on becoming Liverpool captain after Virgil van Dijk departs, then a selfless season at right back would show he puts the team first and give him a new understanding of the team and overall patterns of play.

Liverpool solve two issues with Szoboszlai role change

For Liverpool, they’d be getting a far more reliable outlet on the right, who can produce crosses like the one Szoboszlai did for Alexander Isak against Forest, which the £125 million man couldn’t get on the end of.

No Liverpool player had more touches, created more chances or made more accurate crosses than Szoboszlai against Forest.

He made three stat-recorded accurate crosses, while Frimpong and Kerkez made none between them. The duo attempted six, with none of them finding their target. It was a similar story against Newcastle the week before.

Of course, stats on crossing is pretty flawed, a player can produce a wonderful cross but if the forward doesn’t get on the end of it, it’s recorded as a failed cross.

The eye test tells us that Szoboszlai’s crossing was significantly better than Frimpong’s versus Forest. Of that there is no doubt.

He can also move inside more to create numbers-up situations in midfield, again more akin to Alexander-Arnold did.

Liverpool’s focus on signing attacking wingers for Iraola this summer has neglected the right-back and midfield positions, but moving Szobsozlai fixes both, at least temporarily.

If Iraola is serious about getting the best out of his squad, and Szoboszlai is serious about being a team player, it’s a change that would significantly benefit Liverpool this season.

I’ll start this week with the transfer talk concerning Julian Alvarez, who has his heart set on a move to Barcelona, despite Arsenal’s interest. He’d improve Mikel Arteta’s team considerably because he’s an out-and-out goalscorer, and is a different kind of player to Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz.

He's got pace, can cause problems, can drop in a hole, and score all kinds of goals. I think they’ll win the Premier League, but with that kind of player, you'd start thinking they could go on to dominate and win the Champions League as well.

Clinton was speaking courtesy of Free Bets, home of the best UK betting sites.

'Julian Alvarez signing takes Arsenal to the next level'

It’s clear that he wants to go to Barcelona, but Atletico Madrid don’t want to sell him to a rival. Although, if Barcelona are willing to pay the money, why wouldn’t Atletico sell him when they’ve got an unhappy player who’s lost the support of the fans?

Obviously, he can always win the fans back over by staying and scoring loads of goals for Atletico Madrid.

Another player who has been linked with a move away is Emiliano Martinez, who has reportedly been offered to Chelsea. He would improve them massively, particularly after Robert Sanchez’s performance against Fulham last Monday.

He can't get beaten by that Josh King strike. I don't like to be too critical of players, but it's not the first mistake he's made.

Even with the second Fulham goal — he's parried it back into the danger zone. I don't like to be too critical, especially as it was the first game of the season, but they clearly need to bring in a goalkeeper.

I know they've got Mike Penders from Strasbourg, but they need someone with more experience, and Martinez definitely fits the bill.

One player who’s already made a big-money move is Ayyoub Bouaddi. He’s someone with a lot of potential at just 18-years-old, and he’s a top talent. We saw what he could do at the World Cup, but the Premier League is a completely different type of test.

I like the way he takes the ball, and his confidence is something to admire. And everyone knows about Enzo Fernandez and his qualities.

He's going to get booed everywhere he goes this season, and will receive a lot of stick. But he's a good player, and I don’t think Chelsea want to lose him.

But it was interesting when Xabi Alonso said that he doesn't know what's going to happen, and wished the window was shut.

Usually when a manager says, 'No, my player is not for sale, he's not going anywhere,' then you know that's the truth. But he didn't say that about Enzo Fernandez. So, personally, I think it will happen.

I think Man City will pay the money and get Fernandez, after already signing Bouaddi. I hear they’ve also agreed a fee to sign the Brazilian winger Alan from Palmeiras, so it’s clear to see that City aren’t sitting still after losing Rodri.

Elsewhere, Ollie Watkins’ move to Al Hilal is an interesting one. It would be a massive coup for the Saudi League and their teams — because I cover a lot of the Saudi League and they're trying to sign a lot of top players. And you know why players are going there? Because the money looks after them and their families for years and years.

So I can probably understand why Watkins, who’s 30 and almost 31, and thinking that he could have a couple of years over there and look after his family.

He’ll be playing alongside the likes of Karim Benzema and Ruben Neves, with Al Hilal building a team that they feel can win the league, because Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, Al Nassr, won it last season. So it'll be interesting, and a good move for Watkins.

Finally, there are some cracking games to look forward to in the Premier League this weekend, and Aston Villa versus Arsenal on Monday night is one which stands out to me. Villa always give Arsenal a good game at Villa Park.

It'll be interesting to see if Ezri Konsa is involved, but more so to see how Villa react after their heavy defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.

We know Villa are short — they've lost four key players in Lucas Digne, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, and Konsa. It looks like they’ll lose Watkins too, so they need to strengthen. But the Villa fans will rightly trust Unai Emery.

It's not an easy start for them, and they're playing against everyone's tip to win the Premier League, but I think they'll make it difficult for Arsenal.

The Basque province of Gipuzkoa is famous for its scenic coastline, foodie hotspots and stunning mountainous terrain.

But this small area of northern Spain, with a population of less than one million, has also become notable for producing multiple elite football managers, including four current Premier League head coaches: Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Andoni Iraola.

It meant that there were more managers hailing from Gipuzkoa than from England on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, putting renewed focus on the lack of home-grown coaches in the top flight.

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Why are there so few English managers in the Premier League?

The three men flying the flag for English managers in the Premier League are Michael Carrick at Manchester United, Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard and Ipswich Town boss Gary O’Neil.

This is not a new phenomenon. Go back 10 years to the start of the 2016/17 season and there were just four English head coaches - Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche at Burnley, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew and Mike Phelan at Hull City. It was the same number on the opening weekend of the 2021/22 campaign.

Look down into the Championship and just 10 of the 24 clubs are led by English managers. If that seems low, it may be a surprise to learn that this isn’t a new phenomenon either. Just nine second-tier teams had English head coaches at the start of the 2016/17 campaign, while there were 10 going into 2021/22.

This doesn’t include the odd manager who was born in England and represented another country as a player, but the point still stands: the number of home-grown coaches at the top of the domestic game has been low for some time.

When you look at the identities of the three Englishmen currently managing in the Premier League, you start to see why.

Lampard and O’Neil both entered the division with promoted clubs, albeit the latter was hired over the summer after Kieran McKenna left Ipswich. Meanwhile, Carrick got the United job only after a trial run as interim head coach during the second half of last season.

Despite a generally positive two-and-a-half years in the Championship with Middlesbrough, it is hard to believe that Carrick would have been considered by the Old Trafford hierarchy if he hadn’t played for the club. Similarly, go back to summer 2019 and it is unlikely that Chelsea would have hired the coach that had just taken Derby County to the Championship play-off final in his first season in management if it wasn’t Lampard, a Blues legend.

It suggests that unless you are a famous ex-player, the most likely route into the Premier League for a second-tier boss is by getting your club promoted. But none of the current English managers in the Championship are in charge of one of the promotion favourites, so that is a tall order for the current crop.

You would think that if a coach performs well enough over a long period they would get a Premier League role sooner or later, but it rarely works out that way. Just three times in the past five years has a Premier League club plucked a manager directly from a Championship job - Wolves’ swoop for Rob Edwards from Middlesbrough last season, Chelsea hiring Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca in summer 2024 (and the Italian had just led the Foxes to the second tier title), and Southampton appointing Luton Town boss Nathan Jones in 2022.

In that time, 14 different English managers have been hired by Premier League teams, but only four hadn’t previously been a permanent head coach in the division. Those were Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa in 2021, O’Neil at Bournemouth in 2022, plus Liam Rosenior and Carrick this year. Once again, two of those were big-name former players, while Rosenior came from Chelsea’s sister club, Strasbourg.

It shows that almost every avenue to managing at the top level has been closed off. So, why is that the case?

Probably the most obvious explanation, although not the only one, is that the stakes are now so high at the top of the game that clubs aren’t willing to gamble on unproven coaches. As the riches on offer continue to grow, owners of Premier League teams are increasingly desperate to stay in the division, while those in charge of Championship sides are increasingly desperate to get there.

It means that new faces rarely get to ride the proverbial managerial merry-go-round - in the last five years, Keith Andrews at Brentford and O’Neil at Bournemouth were the only bosses hired permanently by Premier League clubs who were entering their first full-time role as a No.1.

Many young coaches have spoken out about their struggle to land a job. After becoming manager of Italian Serie B side Cesena in March, former England left-back Ashley Cole said he had felt ‘discouraged by a lack of opportunities’ at English clubs.

He told BBC Sport: “They like to throw the ‘you don’t have experience’ line. And I’m like, I get what you’re saying, I agree - but how am I going to get experience?

“That’s the battle you have to fight as a number two for six or seven years - you have to take a leap of faith, but a club also has to take a leap of faith.”

Cole’s former Chelsea and England team-mate John Terry echoed those sentiments last year. “It’s really disheartening, actually,” he told BBC Sport. “I have interviewed for a few jobs myself and not got them due to my lack of experience as a number one, but having captained Chelsea and my country, I’m not sure you can do much more in terms of leading teams and people.”

Terry holds a UEFA Pro Licence, which brings us on to another contributing factor. Here, England has traditionally lagged behind other major European nations, with a Guardian report in 2017 stating that 1,796 people in this country held a Pro or A Licence, compared to 15,089 in Spain. In 2021, the FA revealed that fewer than 500 coaches had completed their Pro Licence with England Football.

With a limited number of qualified English coaches in supply, and clubs unwilling to gamble on the ones that do have the necessary badges, it is no surprise that so few are managing in the Premier League.

Contrast that with Spain, where 12 of the 20 La Liga clubs are managed by Spaniards, while the national team won Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 under a head coach, Luis de la Fuente, who led the country’s age-group teams for almost a decade.

Meanwhile, despite Gareth Southgate enjoying relative success after being promoted from England Under 21s to senior head coach, the FA replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in 2024 to win the World Cup - insinuating that they felt no home-grown coaches could achieve that goal.

It all adds up to a wider cultural issue that starts from the top. Whereas Spain’s FA and domestic league are committed to giving home-grown coaches opportunities, that is of secondary importance in England. That mentality has been ingrained for so long that it is difficult to see it changing.

No wonder Basque managers outnumber their English counterparts in the Premier League.

Why would you limit yourself? Has there ever been a player nicknamed ‘the somewhere someone’, who ever outshone the original? The Romford Pele, the Welsh Xavi and the Scouse Cafu were all tongue-in-cheek, at least; the Croydon De Bruyne, the Scottish Messi and the Yorkshire Pirlo now feel almost mocking.

The Stockport Iniesta felt like shorthand at best. Diminutive, innately intelligent in his movement, excellent in small spaces: a midfielder could play a rondo in a lift. Pep Guardiola infamously proclaimed that Andres Iniesta would retire them all in Catalonia – and perhaps that quote was at the heart of the Foden comparison: that despite the present riches of Pep's first wave, the future was arguably bigger and brighter and bolder than the Centurions' peak.

Not that Foden and Iniesta have been inextricably linked: the Manchester City academy graduate has been compared more readily to more relevant parallels. It was expected that Foden would assume De Bruyne's throne; even Bernardo Silva's. Most of us have forgotten that Iniesta was even a reference point at one point or another, simply a metaphor of grandiosity more than an explanation for his profile. Yet there is a comparison.

Iniesta was a true generalist: all things to all men in a Blaugrana shirt, from dictating play from deep in the 2006 Champions League final to turning his hand at being a left-winger later under Pep. He was so talented that he could play Xavi's role, a bit of Sergio Busquets' and even mirror Lionel Messi on the right. A player that you simply had to “know ball” to appreciate.

Foden has had similar connotations. Gary Neville notably claimed that regardless of what form the City star was in, he was undroppable for his country. Gareth Southgate seemed to agree towards the end of his England tenure, crowbarring Foden into the No.10 spot in his side. Jude Bellingham was shoved out left; Harry Kane started to get subbed more.

“Just give Foden freedom. Let him dictate. Let him roam.” It's commonly considered that he's always been at his best when given the space and time to bend a game to his will.

And this, is a lie.

Foden has two very obvious peaks, both for Manchester City. The first came in the 2020/21 season, his breakout season behind closed doors following David Silva's departure. Those who didn't care to notice assumed he was a like-for-like heir – yet in City's strikerless system, Foden was the left-winger most often, playing a Sane-esque role in which he held width, beat full-backs on the outside, and pressed relentlessly.

He operated as a false nine at times in this system, sometimes an advanced midfielder: but fluidity shouldn't be confused for freedom. This was one of Guardiola's most forensic systems, with Foden one of several following instructions to the letter. He wasn't free: he was completing a task.

And then in 2023/24, the England man had the season of his life. Either from the right, left or centrally – depending on who overlapped – Foden was an attacking midfielder, drifting into a spot in front of the penalty box, receiving on the half-turn and unleashing hell. This time, the team was geared to him, even Erling Haaland sacrificing a few goals to allow this shadow striker to flourish.

Again, there was nothing free about the role. Foden did not have autonomy to dictate play or create: he was there as an exclamation point. It suited him perfectly.

We've been going round suggesting Foden is a generalist: yet, Foden is a specialist. He is best not when he's given a blank canvas and a box of paints, but when you give him a toolkit and a timer.

And that's precisely why he's only drifted in and out of City's best teams. Generalists are useful in any scenario: Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Gabriel Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan all adapted their roles depending on whether Pep went with inverted wingers, a double-pivot, a target man or a 3-2-4-1. Specialists like Jack Grealish or Aymeric Laporte were usually good at one or two things, though, and found their importance fluctuating.

It's not an insult to call Foden a specialist. Liverpool built a team of them, with Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino doing basically the same thing for the entirety of Klopp's tenure to a league-defining standard. Perhaps it goes to explain, however, why neither Foden nor Trent have ever truly thrived for very long in an England shirt.

And maybe the expectations were too much on Foden. The No.47 was one of the first recipients of the ‘generational’ tags on social media, when really, none of us really knew what that actually meant. Was he the Second Coming of Gazza, peroxide-primed, 'n' all? Is Di Maria a lofty enough bar? Would Foden simply define an era of English attacking midfielder?

It just feels like we got him wrong back then, and we're continuing to now. Early signs under Enzo Maresca aren't that he's going to grab City by the neck and deliver a lightning bolt from the centre of chaos. And perhaps he was never that player: he was more of a Salah or a Mahrez or a Julian Alvarez that you could get to do a very specific job in a specific system.

There's nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is Andres Iniesta, after all.

Arsenal’s ongoing quest to bolster their frontline has seen them linked with superstar names such as Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr. and the like.

However, smart recruitment often lies in identifying world-class potential before the price tag hits eye-watering figures.

Enter Olympique Lyonnais' 21-year-old winger Malick Fofana.

Arsenal have found their cut-price Martinelli replacement

The Belgian international, who operates on the left-hand side, has suddenly become much more affordable following the French outfit's failure to qualify for the Champions League.

In last night's agonising Champions League play-off second leg against Fenerbahce, Lyon fought back to level the aggregate score in the second half. What appeared to be their decisive goal, though, was ruled out by VAR, allowing Fenerbahce to prevail and consigning Lyon to the Europa League.

Lyon's failure carries significant financial consequences for a club that has been no stranger to balance sheet issues in recent times.

Under UEFA’s current distribution model, reaching the Champions League league phase guarantees earnings of €18.62 million (£15.7m) simply for participation.

By contrast, dropping into the Europa League yields a modest base fee of just €4.31m (£3.6m) - an immediate deficit of €14.31m (£12.1m).

Similarly, a victory in the Champions League yields €2.1m (£1.8m) compared to the Europa League's €450k (£386k).

Factoring in the diminished value pillar allocations alongside the smaller performance bonuses, Lyon stand to miss out on an estimated €30m to €40m (£25m–£34m) in total European revenue this season.

For a club already walking a financial tightrope, this shortfall is the worst case scenario.

Severe financial distress nearly saw Lyon demoted to Ligue 2 by the DNCG (Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion) - the financial watchdog and regulatory body for professional football clubs in France - a couple of summers ago, compelling them to sell players like Rayan Cherki to Manchester City on the cheap.

According to French journalist Romain Molina, Lyon must generate €100m (£86m) before June 30, 2027 or risk sanctions from the relevant financial and regulatory bodies again. Most of that figure is likely to come from player sales, meaning members of the squad like Fofana will probably be jettisoned.

This hands Mikel Arteta, Arsenal and other interested suitors, something of a transfer open goal.

With Gabriel Martinelli looking set to join Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, Fofana could offer Arteta an option as a replacement and long-term ceiling-raiser.

Where a player like Vinicius Jr. would have commanded an astronomical fee well over £150m alongside structure-busting wage demands, Lyon’s vulnerable negotiating position means Fofana can be acquired for a fraction of that cost. Arsenal have effectively been given the green light, but must move swiftly to capitalise before competitor clubs swoop in.

Liverpool’s marketing department once coined a phrase that split opinion among fans.

Depending on which side of the fence Liverpool supporters sat, ‘This Means More’ was either an anglicised take on Barcelona’s 'Mes Que Un Club' – "more than a club" – ethos or a cheap strapline to hook in potential customers yearning for a sense of belonging. But for Jurgen Klopp, something really did mean more during his time at Anfield.

As his already depleted charges clung on for dear life against Chelsea’s financial juggernaut in the 2024 Carabao Cup final, the German went for broke. He flooded the Reds’ line-up with players forged almost exclusively in the developmental wing of the club’s AXA Training Centre.

Jarell Quansah, Jayden Danns, James McConnell, Trey Nyoni and Bobby Clark led a charge which culminated in Virgil van Dijk’s extra-time winner. Klopp described it as ‘easily the most special trophy I ever won’; no mean feat considering he already counted a Champions League on an impressive honour roll.

Alan Hansen’s infamous edict that ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ was disproved by his former club as a team of callow youth held their own against one that Gary Neville dubbed ‘blue billion-pound bottle jobs’ and offered a glimmer of hope that the tide could be stemmed, if only slightly. Fast-forward two years since that Wembley triumph and the club’s homegrown core is now facing a genuine existential threat.

Klopp previously spoke of his dream that the Reds could, potentially in the next decade, field 'a team full of Scousers' because they would 'fight like crazy'. Ironically, the player who commanded that soundbite, in July 2020, has delivered a hammer blow to his utopian vision.

Curtis Jones's departure to Inter Milan is set to mark the end of an era for the club's local heartbeat. In each of the past 33 seasons, a homegrown player has made at least one Premier League appearance for their boyhood heroes; a lineage that can also be traced back to the beginning of their 134-year history, with Philip Kelly becoming the first in a long list of what Kopites would later vaunt as ‘a Scouser in our team’. The Toxteth-born midfielder’s Serie A move, a year before his existing contract had been due to expire, risks changing all that.

Little over 12 months since Trent Alexander-Arnold walked away from the club that helped make him one of the world’s finest full-backs, Anfield chiefs were determined to avoid history repeating itself. The finders’ fee which Inter paid, in the region of £30m, is small change in relation to what will be lost by Jones pursuing more regular opportunities away from his roots.

Liverpool’s academy has long been a source of both pride and intrigue. Under the tutelage of Steve Heighway, a fabled winger in the club’s 1970s dominance period, numerous Scousers rose through the ranks to become household names. From Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler to Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, local lads routinely came good on Merseyside at a time when only Manchester United’s Class of 92 had a more prolific output among established Premier League clubs. At a time when local match-goers were already finding their place at Anfield pushed to the margins by increasing ticket costs, they continued to represent the last authentic link between the stands and the pitch.

They also doubled as a reference point for incoming players getting to grips with the unique culture that still exists around the club.

For a time, however, that trail ran cold. Four sides in the club’s history have won the FA Youth Cup but the move from formative to first team proved a difficult gap to bridge for those who followed in Carragher's footsteps. Gerrard’s breakthrough in the immediate afterglow of the 1996 win over a West Ham squad containing fellow future stars Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand proved to be the last to make the grade as a regular figure in the senior setup.

Those capable of stepping up also found themselves caught in the crossfire as a pitched battle between the Kirkby centre of excellence and the Anfield dugout, where Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez both attempted to wrest control of the youth policy, raged. Attempts to redress the imbalance by enlisting former Barca youth coaches Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura, who played key roles in Lionel Messi’s rise, to oversee development had little effect on reversing what was already lasting damage. Local players that did go on to make semi-regular outings in that period ultimately played second fiddle to a talent pool which had drawn from far beyond the River Mersey’s enclave, most notably Raheem Sterling.

Through it all, Carragher and Gerrard continued to serve as standard bearers while Jon Flanagan briefly flew the flag after the latter’s departure until Alexander-Arnold – the real 'Scouse Cafu' – stepped up in Klopp’s first full season as the latest local totem. He was followed three years later by Jones, who emerged after being imparted with the former captain’s wisdom during his brief spell as the club’s under-18 manager.

Both players became Liverpool’s first local-born players since Gerrard to make over 200 appearances and made no secret of their respective personal targets to emulate him further by taking full ownership of the armband. Barring a prodigal return, something that is more difficult for Alexander-Arnold after last summer’s fractious exit, neither will realise that aim.

Burning ambition drove the pair’s moves overseas, but they are not the only ones to develop cabin fever within the former Kirkby crop. Although Merseyside-born rather than in Liverpool itself, Quansah and Tyler Morton also pursued transfers abroad with Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon, which have already paid dividends away from fleeting first-team involvements. A debut season in the Bundesliga elevated the Warrington-born defender to a place in England’s World Cup squad this summer while Morton, a holding midfielder, has thrived after being given free rein in Ligue 1. It was a similar story for fellow non-native Caoimhin Kelleher, who made the 'easy' decision of leaving for Brentford after his own path to succeeding Alisson as first-choice goalkeeper was inexplicably blocked by Giorgi Mamardashvili. Fans have continued to track the trio's progress from afar, somewhat wistfully, in hopes that their club's hierarchy will someday realise the error of its ways in sanctioning their sales.

Jones’s immediate replacements at the local vanguard, meanwhile, are conspicuous by their absence. Danns remains the sole survivor in Andoni Iraola’s current squad but has been beset by injury problems over the past 12 months. The striker only made his long-awaited return to action in last week’s tempestuous ‘mini derby’ with Everton U21s at Goodison Park.

A prospective run in the side appears increasingly improbable with record signing Alexander Isak leading the line, Hugo Ekitike’s looming return and a pursuit of more attacking reinforcements such as PSG’s Bradley Barcola expected before the transfer window closes. Iraola is well-versed on the importance of local identity after spending almost his entire playing career at Athletic Club, whose ‘cantera’ policy is notorious for an intake of players that are either of Basque origin or birth. He was forthright about a desire to keep Jones at all costs, using his inaugural address to underline the importance of a local nucleus. But if the Basque head coach gets off to a rocky start, as he did at Bournemouth, opportunities for Danns to stake a claim in and around the first team will be further limited.

At a time when youth development is front and centre for many of their Premier League rivals, Liverpool are in danger of falling away. Reigning champions Arsenal continue to thrive with Hale End graduates Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly while Manchester City have made Phil Foden and Nico O’Reilly focal points in their brave new era under Enzo Maresca. Even Chelsea, the aforementioned billionaire bottlers, count Reece James and Levi Colwill from their Cobham pipeline. United also continue to proudly boast of fielding a homegrown player in every matchday squad since 1937.

Klopp’s tempered his vision of an authentically local team by admitting he would settle in the interim for becoming a club where everyone with ‘a Scouse soul’ wanted to play. That may be all which Liverpool have left to cling with no legitimate successors readily available to assume to the mantle recently vacated by Jones's move to Italy.

A banner displayed at Anfield on last season’s final day in tribute to departing stalwarts Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah asked, ‘When will we see your like again’. The same question can now be posed about the next Scouser to don the famous red shirt.

Robert Sanchez’s position as Chelsea’s starting goalkeeper is under genuine threat following a lapse in the opening game of the Premier League season against Fulham.

In conceding Josh King's first half strike, Sanchez was caught short on what should have been a routine save.

According to FotMob, King’s effort registered 0.07 xG (Expected Goals) and 0.07 xGOT (Expected Goals on Target), which indicates that 93 times out of 100, the average top-flight goalkeeper would be expected to save it.

Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso has some thinking to do in the goalkeeper position

Allowing such an effort to sneak into the net handed the hosts an equaliser and brought back to the surface some uncomfortable questions regarding the Spanish stopper's overall reliability.

This was hardly an isolated incident, either; Sanchez has committed the occasional high-profile error throughout his Chelsea spell, often leading directly to goals.

Last season, he was temporarily dropped in favour of Filip Jorgensen during the early months of Liam Rosenior’s tenure.

Now, with Xabi Alonso occupying the Stamford Bridge dugout, Sanchez faces a threat to his standing as Chelsea No. 1 and must once again prove himself to another manager.

Alonso may come to the conclusion that Sanchez lacks the composure required to serve as undisputed first-choice based on his Fulham display.

What makes Sanchez’s position more precarious is the evolution of Chelsea’s dressing room dynamic. Previously, at 28 years old, he held unique status as the eldest member of the first-team squad.

Twelve months on, that dynamic has shifted as the group is collectively a year older, and Alonso’s summer business saw Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck arrive.

With two decorated elder statesmen now in the building, Chelsea no longer depend on Sanchez, to the same extent, to provide leadership from between the posts.

Meanwhile, a very real competitive alternative has emerged in the form of Mike Penders. Returning from his loan spell at Strasbourg, the young Belgian stopper delivered performances statistically right on par with expectations while showcasing composure with the ball at his feet.

Given that distribution was always considered one of Sanchez’s primary strengths, Penders matches his elder counterpart while potentially offering greater long-term upside.

Leeds United have a golden opportunity to match or even eclipse their best Premier League finish in the modern era this season, and walking away from an expensive loan move is further evidence they are on track to achieve just that.

Mykhaylo Mudryk joining up with Daniel Farke's group at Elland Road never seemed a natural fit, even if the Ukrainian's talent is undeniable. While some may frame it as an inability to get a marquee signing over the line, it is probably more likely a reflection of the security Leeds have, across the board, in 2026.

Last term, the Whites signed Facundo Buonanotte on a second-half-of-the-season loan deal but the Argentine rarely played, never mind delivered. Given Mudryk's history, Farke's reluctance to guarantee game-time and the likely cost of bringing the attacker to Yorkshire, it always felt one that probably wouldn't get done.

Leeds' previous best since returning to the top flight was ninth (2020/21) under Marcelo Bielsa

Through a certain lens, this so-called transfer failure is perhaps the clearest declaration of intent Leeds have made all summer. Unwilling to compromise their long-term wage structure or bend to Chelsea's inflated game-time expectations for an unpredictable player, both sides have politely walked away.

Far from a setback, it is FourFourTwo's opinion that it will prove to be a bullet dodged, and a sign of maturity.

To appreciate how far Leeds have come, one must view this financial prudence through the prism of their volatile past.

Throughout the modern Premier League era, punctuated by emotional promotions in 2020 and 2025, stability has been fleeting, almost mythical at Elland Road.

The famous early 2000s heyday, filled with European nights, ultimately came at a crippling cost, built on borrowing that plunged the club into almost two decades of turmoil. You would have to rewind all the way to the early 1990s under Howard Wilkinson to find an era where Elland Road felt quite this grounded, structured, and secure.

Under the stewardship of 49ers Enterprises, Leeds are in safe, capable hands. The strategy during this transfer window has been surgical rather than superficial. Instead of chasing vanity projects, the board has systematically upgraded the starting lineup by bringing in top-tier talents like James Trafford, Tarik Muharemovic, and Harry Wilson.

Crucially, they have balanced the books through shrewd player trading, sanctioning Pascal Struijk’s move to Brighton without weakening the squad’s underlying foundation.

That sense of calm extends directly onto the pitch, where Farke has embarked on his fourth full season in charge.

Tactical and managerial continuity is a rare commodity in modern football, but Farke’s approach continues to pay dividends. Leeds kicked off their campaign with an away victory at Nottingham Forest last weekend - a venue where Forest lost just seven home games last term and won nine the year before. It could come to be seen as a statement victory that underlines their growing authority away from home. Leeds won only twice on the road last season.

While Leeds enjoy continuity, transition and uncertainty surrounds much of the division. This summer saw nine managerial changes at Premier League clubs, six of which occurred at teams Leeds consider direct positional rivals: Bournemouth, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Ipswich, and Forest.

While other dressing rooms are learning as they go under new leadership, Leeds have a settled, unified core. Key players Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Brenden Aaronson, and Jayden Bogle have all recently committed their long-term futures to the West Yorkshire club.

The underlying metrics further validate this upward trajectory. Since December 1, 2025, Leeds have accumulated nine victories, twelve draws, and just five defeats across twenty-six top-flight matches - the sixth-best record in the entire division over that period. It is no longer a temporary purple patch, rather sustained momentum from a club seemingly functioning with operational alignment.

The broader landscape represents a window of opportunity. With nine Premier League clubs burdened by the physical and mental demands of European competition, Leeds can channel their energy exclusively into domestic affairs. Free from midweek travel, squad rotation headaches, and fixture congestion, a settled Leeds side is perfectly positioned. Rejecting expensive shortcuts like Mudryk proves that Leeds value sustainability over optics, and that discipline is precisely why a top-ten Premier League finish is well within their reach.

When you hear the term ‘yo-yo club’, the team that springs to mind probably depends on the era that you started watching football.

For me, it’s West Bromwich Albion, who were promoted from the Championship four times and relegated from the Premier League on three occasions between 2002 and 2010.

Ipswich Town are the latest club to slip into a yo-yo existence, where they are too good for one division but seemingly not good enough for the league above, with Gary O’Neil’s side heavily tipped to go straight back down after promotion last term.

The three clubs Ipswich must emulate to shed the yo-yo tag

This is the fifth successive season in which the Tractor Boys have been in a different division, achieving back-to-back promotions to the Premier League in 2022/23 and 2023/24, before relegation in 2025 was followed by promotion.

It took them until November 10 to claim their first win when they were last in the top flight, but they ticked that off straight away this season, beating Sunderland 2-1 in Saturday’s opening game.

You would think that clubs who return to the Premier League at the first time of asking would be more likely to survive, but that’s rarely the case. In fact, 10 of the past 13 teams who gained an immediate return to the top flight went straight back down.

For example, it has happened to Burnley twice in the past four seasons: after dropping out of the Premier League in 2022, promotions in 2023 and 2025 were followed by relegations in 2024 and 2026 respectively.

But the Clarets are also one of just three clubs since 2013 to buck the trend, having been relegated in 2014/15, won the Championship the following campaign and stayed up in 2016/17.

The other two are Newcastle United, in 2017/18, and Fulham, who finally beat the drop in 2022/23 after one-season spells in the Premier League in 2018/19 and 2020/21.

So, what did these clubs get right and how can Ipswich follow their lead? Here are three reasons why the Tractor Boys are better-placed for survival this time around.

A settled defence

For Burnley in 2016/17 and Newcastle the season after, survival was built on an impressive defensive record. The Clarets finished 16th but had the 11th-best defence in the Premier League, while only six teams in 2017/18 conceded fewer goals than the Magpies, who ended the campaign 10th.

If Ipswich are to stay up, they must significantly improve on the 82 goals they conceded during their 2024/25 relegation season - and there are reasons to suggest they can.

After a leaky start to life in the Championship last term, the Tractor Boys kept 11 clean sheets from Boxing Day onwards to end the campaign with the joint second-best defensive record in the division.

Their back four against Sunderland featured three members of last season’s squad: captain Dara O’Shea, centre-back Jacob Greaves and left-back Leif Davis, who were also all part of the relegation campaign. Completing the defence was summer signing Issa Diop, who has spent the past eight years in the Premier League with West Ham United and Fulham.

Burnley’s 2016/17 defence had similar continuity, with three first-choice players - goalkeeper Tom Heaton, Ben Mee and Michael Keane - all relegated with the club two seasons earlier.

The likes of O’Shea, Greaves and Davis will have learnt from their experience two seasons ago, which should help Ipswich tighten up at the back.

Finding the right blend

Ipswich’s longest-serving players could be especially important considering the number of signings the club have made this summer.

The Tractor Boys have spent around £150m on 12 first-team players and could beat Sunderland’s record outlay for a newly-promoted club, of £161m, which was set last season.

Admittedly, Ipswich spent more than £100m two summers ago and still went down, but they can follow the blueprint of Fulham in 2022/23.

The Cottagers made some excellent signings to help them finish 10th, including Bernd Leno, Joao Palhinha and Willian, but the team was built around a spine of existing players such as Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Harrison Reed and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Ipswich’s starting XI against Sunderland featured seven summer additions, with Julio Enciso and opening goalscorer Emersonn impressing, but also four survivors from last season’s squad, while another, Jack Clarke, came off the bench to bag the winner.

While Sunderland showed last season that a complete overhaul of the starting XI can bring success, O’Neil would be well-advised to maintain that blend of familiar figures and fresh faces.

A streaky streak

For Ipswich, the big unknown is in the dugout.

Kieran McKenna led the club from 12th in League One to the Premier League, so it felt like a huge blow when the Northern Irish manager stepped down in June, after delivering a third promotion in four seasons.

However, O’Neil has twice led sides to survival in the Premier League - Bournemouth in 2022/23 and Wolves the following campaign - and the way he did it could benefit the Tractor Boys.

Both clubs had fairly streaky form, with the Cherries taking six points from 13 games mid-season, then 18 from nine matches in March and April. It was the reverse at Wolves, where a run of 22 points from 11 fixtures was followed by five points from 10.

There are similarities with Newcastle in 2017/18 and Fulham in 2022/23. The Magpies took one point from nine games in late 2017, while four straight wins were followed by four successive defeats in the spring.

Fulham also had runs of four wins and four defeats, while at one point they didn’t draw a single game for three months.

In a relegation fight, it is better to be streaky than to pick up wins here and there, as a bad run can be followed by bursts of points that move you much closer to survival.

Ipswich drew 10 games in 2024/25 but won just four, so if O’Neil still has a streaky streak, the Tractor Boys will pick up more victories and have a better chance of shedding the yo-yo tag.

It’s always seemed strange that FIFA is willing to use the World Cup as a guinea pig for changes to the Laws of the Game.

Football’s premier competition is jealously guarded, more and more so as the governing body’s own logo has been afforded the limelight, and yet every major experiment and tweak is live-tested at the sport’s apex.

Strange, maybe, but surely an indication of the paradoxically low regard FIFA’s top suits have for their own golden globe.

FIFA’s is the leading voice within IFAB, the game’s law-making body. Implementing new laws and updates at the World Cup is a choice.

They don’t all come into play at football’s global showpiece. That honour is saved for the aspects of the Laws of the Game through which FIFA wants to make a statement on a theme.

World Cup 2026 was the World Cup of FIFA’s misguided war on time-wasting, noble in intent but undercooked in practice. Non-league fans rightly complain when rule changes are tested on the matches that matter to them but FIFA’s readiness to go to the other extreme is no accident.

Ultimately, FIFA played to the gallery. Football fans have always hated time-wasting and measures were rushed through to address it on the biggest possible stage.

Applying a five-second rule for goal kicks and throw-ins is going to cause chaos, for starters. Just watch.

But these new additions to the Laws of the Game do seek to tackle an aspect of the game that fans genuinely find infuriating. Lots of people don’t like time-wasting and over-engineered set pieces, and football has moved to take the edge off.

There’s another area fans find irritating. Tactical fouls can be sneaky and antithetical to the spirit of the game. Fans don’t all want to watch teams trying to eke out minor advantages any which way.

A fresh start for Premier League referees?

Professional fouls, time-wasting, diving, injury breaks – all of these and more can be categorised as the sort of tactical offending that disrupt what’s good and liquid about football.

That’s the bad news. The good news is there’s an opportunity that comes with it.

For all the transparent grandstanding that’s baked into FIFA’s World Cup sandbox for rule changes with a message, the latest bogeyman du jour was at least something that needed to be dealt with.

As a new Premier League season gets underway, its referees would do well to take the spirit of that approach on board.

Referees are a put-upon group. The abuse they face is bad enough in its own right; its real venom lurks in the fact that so many fans will agree with a straight face that it’s their own fault.

As much as the Premier League referee has been allowed to become a modern-day folk devil, the tiny sliver of the blame they do own is the result of choosing not to use the tools they have at their disposal.

Referees don’t need more power to deal with offences like cynical fouls, time-wasting and diving until their existing weapons are pointed at the players and proved to be inadequate.

Surely, the Laws of the Game legislate for these matters much more adequately than the leeway in the average Premier League would suggest.

Take dissent, for example: fans, generally, would rather players didn’t spend 90 minutes questioning the parentage of the officials. It’s an unusual example of fans being on the referees’ side.

Most fans have a solid grasp of where the line is, yet it’s crossed time and again without any repercussions.

If there was ever a time for the referees of the Premier League to get fans more onside by targeting the things that annoy both parties, this season is it.

The initialised version of Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s name has been weaponised by Football Twitter as a byword for some shady conspiracy beyond the obvious basic advantages afforded to the richest clubs.

PGMOL has been rebranded as Pro Ref, but the real change can only take place on the pitch.

Lancing a tactically-filled boil or two would go much further than changing the name of the company. Mind you, any improvement would just be credited in some quarters to the retirement of Anthony Taylor.

Fulham will start the new Premier League season by having the neighbours round. The first Monday Night Football of 2026-27 takes Chelsea down the road to Craven Cottage, where they’ll play in a derby that will do little to indicate what’s to come for either team in the next nine months.

Chelsea have more tangible targets than local bragging rights in a rivalry so cosmopolitan that ‘local’ doesn’t mean much anyway. They’ve been going after those goals like they mean it, up to and including a British transfer record move for the hottest property in English football.

Morgan Rogers has linked up at Stamford Bridge with Xabi Alonso, the Blues’ new manager and the man on the end of the pointed backing of the club hierarchy. Alonso won’t have to deal with European football this season. He will have to deliver it, however.

Managers united in Madrid misery

The 44-year-old officially succeeded Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid boss two weeks after leaving German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, where his success was generational and indisputable.

Alonso lasted six months back at the Bernabeu, winning 24 of his 32 matches in charge and leaving by mutual consent in January. Real Madrid were four points behind leaders Barcelona with exactly half a season to play but the manager’s race had been run.

Pick the ultimate 4-4-2 line-up from players in FourFourTwo's definitive Top 100 List

The outgoing gaffer was succeeded from within by Real Madrid B manager Alvaro Arbeloa. He was replacing the man with whom he had played as a teammate more than any other.

After his 19 league matches in charge, he too had collected four points fewer than Barcelona. Arbeloa stood down at the end of the season and finds Alonso in the away dugout for his first Premier League match as the manager of Fulham.

Unlike Alonso’s, Arbeloa’s Real Madrid departure had been in the works for a while. Question marks over their performances in big matches that marred his half-season in the hot seat were far from baseless.

There were reports of tensions in the dressing room that came to a head when Federico Valverde clashed with Aurielien Tchouameni, and Antonio Rudiger apparently opted for the physical method to express his opinion to Alvaro Carreras.

The scepticism of Bernabéu kingmaker Kylian Mbappe made Arbeloa’s demise inevitable despite his own standing within the club.

Mbappe was more positive about Alonso, but neither the former Leverkusen boss nor Alonso's old teammate got what they’d hoped for from their respective ascensions into the top job with the Spanish capital titans.

When they press the flesh like Dillon and Dutch on the touchline at the Cottage tonight, Alonso and Arbeloa will have that in common. Real Madrid isn’t a job that cuts slack. It’s a Mourinho-sized role with Mourinho-sized ups and downs.

Same tee, different pins

There’s no point in drawing conclusions about a manager after a few months spearheading football’s greatest basket case. Some managerial personalities can pull it off. Others, well, they can’t. It doesn’t say much about them either way.

What separates the two who landed in West London this summer is the nature of their experience before they each spent six months as an egg in a cement mixer.

Alonso, as a Bundesliga champion, double winner and invincible with Leverkusen, has proven himself up to a point. Arbeloa has not. In that sense, they have at least popped up at Chelsea and Fulham the right way round.

Alonso has the chops and the more acute need to prove it. Fulham are embarking on life after Marco Silva and that comes with a very particular kind of pressure.

Youngsters Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacious followed Arbeloa from Real Madrid but doubts over whether the Cottagers have done enough to account for losing the direct impacts of Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez for nothing are entirely justified.

19-year-old striker Jonah Kusi-Asare has joined from Bayern Munich and promising young midfielder Shea Charles has come in from Southampton, but selling Sasa Lukic and Issa Diop to promoted Ipswich Town could prove more significant than Fulham would like if they don’t have their wits about them.

Alonso’s brief is a touch spikier. Chelsea dropped to a level they consider beneath them and are investing in bouncing back. Qualifying for the Champions League is the new manager’s minimum objective. He won’t be there this time next year if he doesn’t.

Whether that would make Leverkusen rather than Real Madrid the Alonso anomaly would be for Chelsea fans to decide, and their Fulham counterparts will have their say on the early-career trajectory of Arbeloa too.

Free of the Bernabéu factor, untangled from the merciless mangle that is Real Madrid, 2026-27 will help define exactly what tier of manager these former colleagues are going to be.

Their aims are different this season, but they’re starting at the same time, in the same game, under the same floodlights.

The big transfer news this week concerns Rodri’s move to Barcelona being confirmed. It was inevitable, and with only a year left in his contract at the age of 30, it was a good piece of business for Manchester City. But to lose a top-quality player like that when you want to be challenging for the Premier League, is a huge blow.

He gave everything to that football club - Man City won everything, and when he went there, not a lot of people knew about him, and now everyone knows about him. It's a fantastic signing for Barcelona.

Clinton was speaking courtesy of Free Bets, home of the best UK betting sites.

'Ayyoub Bouaddi is the type of player who could come in and help fill the void'

Ayyoub Bouaddi is the type of player who could come in and help fill the void. He’s only 18, but he dictated the play for Morocco at the World Cup and made things happen. I’m not saying that Bouaddi will be as good as Rodri, but if he can be half as good as him, then he’ll have a very successful career.

Moving to the other side of Manchester now, and there’s been a lot of talk about Bruno Fernandes’ future. He was the best player in the Premier League in that number 10 role last season. He'll have competition this year, because there's a good crop of number 10s — Martin Ødegaard started well, while Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer could both have good seasons.

But Bruno's unbelievable — Man United can't afford to lose him. You've got to give him whatever he wants at the moment. He leads by example, and a big reason as to why they returned to the Champions League was down to Bruno Fernandes. Winning both the Premier League and Football Writers’ Association awards shows how much of an impact he had on Man United.

And I don't think, by signing all these midfielders, that they've got one eye on losing Bruno Fernandes, because none of them are number 10 players. I think you need to bring in players so Bruno says, 'yeah, I want to stay and be part of it' — which he does anyway, because Man United is still a big football club.

He's had offers to leave in the past, and could have gone to Saudi Arabia for huge money, but turned it down because he wanted to stay at Man United and play in the best league in the world. At this moment in time, I could ever only see him leaving for somewhere like Real Madrid or Barcelona, because there isn’t anywhere else that’s bigger for Bruno than Man United.

One player who looks set to arrive at Old Trafford is Carlos Baleba. I think it's another good addition to Man United — they needed to strengthen in that midfield area. He’s shown his quality at Brighton & Hove Albion, and is at a really good age too.

Bringing in Baleba would be a good move, and he has been outstanding for Brighton. So for me, that would be a really good signing — and it's a player that they need as well.

He would add to their options alongside Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans, and Kobbie Mainoo, making it a crowded part of the squad. Trying to keep everyone happy might be a bit difficult, but you want competition for places at a club like Man United.

One of the other transfers which caught my eye was Zion Suzuki joining Aston Villa. Where does that leave Emiliano Martínez? Is he going to be ushered out? Because Juventus wanted him, but they’ve just gone and got Guglielmo Vicario from Tottenham.

I can’t see him being a number two, and he's the better of those two goalkeepers. Watch this space, because I think Suzuki has come in to be the number one. So it looks like maybe Martínez might be on his way — we’ll just have to wait and see.

There’s been lots of talk about the players moving between clubs this summer, but let’s not forget, there are nine new managers in the Premier League! Enzo Maresca’s Man City team will probably finish the highest of those teams, but I think Oliver Glasner will have the biggest impact with Nottingham Forest. I think he’s a top manager, and will have a bigger budget at Forest compared to what he had at Crystal Palace to bring in the players he wants.

Out of all those managers, Forest and Glasner will probably be the most successful. I think they'll have a good season, finish in that top eight, and maybe win a trophy this year.

Looking ahead to the weekend now, and it’s great that the Premier League is back. I’m looking forward to a mouth-watering game between Newcastle United and Liverpool. That has the potential to be a cracker, because I’d expect Newcastle to come out fighting after losing so many players, especially with Matthias Jaissle taking his first match in charge. It’ll be interesting to see how Liverpool play too and as I’m not working, I can just sit in front of the TV and enjoy it!

He's one of the world’s highest-rated attackers, a 26-year-old with almost 450 professional games to his name, 252 goal involvements, and nearly won the Ballon d’Or in 2024.

Add that to last year’s Premier League winners, who boast Europe’s best defence, one of England’s best midfielders, but whose only minor Achilles heel protrudes from their left flank.

Vinicius Jr to Arsenal was a match (expensively) made in heaven.

It’s exactly what the rightfully greedy football fan wants. You start spending money precisely when you’re at the top, to consolidate your position and leave your competitors with too much work to do to catch up.

Speaking on The Athletic podcast in July, renowned journalist Adam Crafton said: “I will say on Arsenal, I had a conversation maybe in May with someone who is incredibly well connected in European football, who said that talk of people he was speaking to is that Arsenal were ready to do some seriously disruptive business this summer, in terms of taking the team from where they were up to that next level.”

Seriously disruptive business.

It’s the sort of short phrase that widens the eyes of transfer junkies, and landing Vini Jr would be comfortably deserving of the label.

At this point in the life cycle of a transfer rumour, you head to your favourite stats site and see he’s scored over 20 goals in all competitions in his last five seasons, four of those after playing over 50 games. No injury concerns.

Then you glance through Mikel Arteta’s squad. Gabriel. Martinelli. Jesus. Bruno Guimaraes has just signed. This Brazilian's going to fit right in here.

You realise you’re getting giddy, so you go and check what the Spanish media are saying. He’s rejected two contract renewals at Madrid.

I’m building to a big crescendo here, but you already know what I think. You’ve read the headline. It wouldn’t have worked. It was too big.

This is where I’d like to launch into a technical explanation about why these mega deals don’t work, but the truth is, there is just something intangibly, inherently doomed about them.

Seriously, look down the list of the most expensive deals football has witnessed.

Neymar and Kylian Mbappe top the list, costing Paris Saint-Germain a combined £353,740,000. Yes, they scored a hatful of goals in the French capital, but we all know a Champions League trophy was the driving force behind that immense outlay.

Two did arrive – in the years following Mbappe's exit, with Neymar having departed a year prior.

Ousmane Dembele is next up, costing Barcelona £129.68m in a blockbuster move after a showstopping one season at Borussia Dortmund.

He departed in 2023, and an ESPN headline from that summer succinctly rounds up his time in Catalonia.

“Barcelona are better without Dembele’s unfulfilled potential”.

The premise was bang on at the time, but fast-forward two years later, the Frenchman would be taking centre stage at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, clutching a Ballon d’Or.

His move to PSG 24 months early had cost a much more sedate £43.5m.

Arsenal themselves know this sorry tale all too well, with Nicolas Pepe's ill-fated £72m back in 2019 never living up to the hype.

As a basement-dwelling writer, I’ll never quite understand how these galactic, earth-shattering deals weigh on the human at the centre of them, but it has to at least be a factor in such a high failure rate. Or maybe the mind-boggling sums of money involved just mean the product could never live up to expectations.

Either way, evidence points towards Vini Jr at increased risk of being next, had he rocked up in north London.

Yes, the Brazilian was heading into the last year of his contract at Madrid, but the transfer market is Los Blancos’ second sport. It feels as though, backed up by the contract offer they eventually put in front of Vini, they’d sooner have had him for an extra year and see him leave for nothing, rather than let him go for anything less than a significant sum this summer.

Real are not a selling club. Of that top 100 most expensive players list mentioned earlier, they feature as sellers just four times. Ronaldo to Juventus, Angel Di Maria and Casemiro to Manchester United, and Alvaro Morata to Chelsea. Some worked out well, but you’d say they got the better end of the bargain on the whole.

They don’t sell their best, and Vini Jr is one of them, so the King’s club would have demanded a king’s ransom.

With the ink now dry on the Brazilian’s new six-year contract at the Bernabeu, we’ll never know what the figures involved might have been.

However, just 18 months prior, reports in the Sun suggested that Real would only begin to consider offers near the player’s £830m release clause – a figure interested parties in Saudi Arabia were clearly pondering, given the same report revealed officials in the Middle East had thrown together a proposal that would see Vini earn £168m per year.

Arsenal, of course, would have been nowhere near these numbers – neither are Madrid – but it illustrates some of the bargaining power his agents have.

The Gunners, according to The Athletic, were willing to “break their wage structure” for the winger, with an offer they felt Madrid couldn’t match. A more realistic sum than that on the table in Saudi is the offer finally accepted by Vinicius. The figures have been kept private, but from the same report we know it’s more than the £18,813,300-per-year offer that was turned down last.

That means paying significantly more than £361,794 per week, after tax.

Baked in with the cost of the transfer fee itself, and any agent’s fees, what would Vini have had to produce to make that worthwhile? Would one Champions League have been enough? For it to scorch all wage structures and future negotiations that lay before it?

And that's not to mention the wider narratives – what would it have meant for the likes of Max Dowman's progression? What message would it send to the rest of the academy if a talent like that is blocked further each season in the market?

Vini Jr. to Arsenal was always doomed to fail, because almost nothing is worth what it would have cost in the long run.

The footballing revolution will be televised – just not if you live in the UK.

A new direct-to-fan streaming service has been rolled out by the Premier League that offers access to all 380 of this season’s games live and direct for armchair viewers. Launched under the banner of ‘Premier League +’, the English top flight is making tangible strides towards a long-touted Netflix of football model, alias ‘Premflix’, with their new one-stop shop from the comfort of your living room, tablet or wherever else people get their football fix.

Appetite for a similar move on home soil is already growing with YouGov revealing that 42% of 876 football fans polled online last year endorsed the prospect of signing up for a potential Premier League in-house platform.

But the wealth is not set to be shared. Only supporters in Singapore will reap the benefits of the service created in tandem with the league’s longstanding international broadcast partner, StarHub, which will provide it to those in the former British outpost.

Homegrown fans still getting a raw deal on televised football

Even before the new deal’s announcement, Singaporeans and expats alike have long enjoyed the trappings of Premier League football screening outside of those available on home soil. Varying kick-off times over the past two decades helped cultivate devoted armies of night owls and early risers wanting their fill of the so-called ‘greatest league in the world’. They are not alone, either, with fans across the globe able to tune in for games from stadiums up and down the country at all hours of the day. Meanwhile, those based in the league’s domicile continue to be hamstrung by exorbitant costs and other rigid constraints.

Premier League + has been costed at around £25 per month, disproving the theory that watching live football at a premium is unavoidable. It's a similar story in other territories with the United States, South America and the Middle East also offering coverage at significant markdown prices. UK-based viewers, in contrast, will have to stump up as much as three times Singapore's figure for access to games on Sky Sports and TNT Sports, which only accounts for 267 of the 380 games in the forthcoming campaign. However, it doesn’t stop there. Alongside a TV licence, consumers would need to subscribe to eight different services to access to all available matches in the Champions League and Europa League, EFL competitions, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 for an eye-watering minimum of £132.97 per month. DAZN, Premier Sports, ESPN via Disney+, Amazon and even Ligue 1 itself all now have cuts of the pie. What remains goes to free-to-air platforms BBC and ITV, once bastions of mainstream football coverage now forced to settle for little more than crumbs.

Worse still, Ligue 1’s newly launched streaming platform at £17 monthly is the only subscription that covers all bases for games in a single competition with screened matches for the rest of Europe's main five leagues disproportionately split between no fewer than two different providers. Those fixated exclusively on Premier League matters will have to shell out £791.88 just to watch games legally according to research by eSIMatic. There is also is still no legitimate route to watching this season’s remaining 113 matches not covered by its leading broadcast partners. The 3pm blackout remains an ongoing bone of contention that prevents supporters unable to attend matches from seeing their team, or indeed any other football match, in the traditional timeslot. What advocates for preserving the sanctity of the blackout overlook is that it isn’t done out of a goodness for the game, nor was it ever. The concept for a ban on televising top tier games taking place between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays was originally put forward in the 1960s by Burnley chairman Bob Lord, a fierce opponent of football being broadcast live who argued that it would protect attendances at lower-league games. But a potential ulterior motive for the proposal emerged when he declared, much to widespread disdain, in a keynote speech to the Variety Club in March 1974 that, “We have to stand up against a move to get soccer on the cheap by the Jews who run TV”.

Yet broadcasters appear just as in favour of enacting prohibition as those who see it as the last vestige of football tradition which should be preserved at all costs. Jeff Stelling’s impassioned argument against the abolition of the blackout may have come from a genuine place as a lifelong Hartlepool fan but, equally, he will know that a change to the status quo would effectively kill one of its golden gooses. As the former presenter of Sky's Soccer Saturday for 29 years, Stelling will be all too aware of the cult-like following the programme continues to enjoy in offering alternative coverage of the action. Prince William has been a vocal critic of the blackout with the Football Association figurehead and future king describing an inability to watch his beloved Aston Villa in the 3pm time slot as ‘irritating’ on the occasions when he is precluded from observing from the directors’ box.

Cunning supporters continue to bypass the archaic ruling through illegal streaming routes; something that routinely finds itself on the front pages of national newspapers as part of a crackdown campaign by the Premier League and UK authorities. Those prosecuted for facilitating workarounds through jailbroken technology are paraded as public enemies in the fight against of online piracy rather than symptomatic of a wider problem. Football is not a TV show but its riches continue to elevate the Premier League season on season without giving anything back to those on which it made its fortune. New research by working class think tank Democracia84 found that fans aged between 18 and 35 in the game’s traditional heartlands are being squeezed financially due to a 47% increase in the cost of football between 2015 and 2025 while household income has flatlined. Changing habits in how the game is consumed, with a technology-driven shift now more pronounced than at any other stage, further pushes the risk of a wider disconnect with the sport.

Loopholes to the blackout do exist without running the risk of criminality, as all domestic football being made available free from the usual restrictions during Covid attests. A technicality in UEFA’s Article 48, which can only be enforced when 50% of matches in a country’s top two divisions are played simultaneously, was also waived for the EFL's opening weekend earlier this month while the Premier League remained on summer hiatus. Up to 25 matches across the Championship, League One and League Two were screened live, with concerns around dwindling attendance figures seemingly ignored. That particular argument is yet to be fully proven with average figures for last season’s Championship standing at 26,684 while the drop between divisions saw League One’s clock in at 9,912 – a drop of more than two-and-a-half times that figure – and League Two’s deficit was double that at 4,164.

The merits of a continued blackout will be revisited in the next 18 months when the new broadcast rights cycle is set to be finalised ahead of the 2029/30 campaign, but a new contender has already potentially emerged in the battle to implement ‘Prem Flix’ on native shores. Jeff Bezos’s recent arrival at Liverpool as a minority investor with the 1892 Holdings consortium hints at more than a vanity purchase with the Amazon mogul’s Prime Video platform successfully muscling in on Premier League and Champions League games over recent seasons. The e-commerce giant has already won over fans with its innovative yet no-nonsense coverage of the flagship competitions; offering multigame access and the option to replace banal commentary with raw crowd audio. Despite losing access to the English game, Amazon have continued to keep their hand in on live football by also offering selected Nations League matches through a pay-per-view service. An opportunity for Bezos to usurp Sky and TNT as the official home of Premier League TV coverage is likely to prove too strong to resist.

The Singapore deal proves that televised football can be made affordable and accessible to those watching through a screen; something fans in the UK continue to be told is impossible. Removing the current barriers would not only enrich the Premier League’s already sizeable cash cow but also help reduce the rise of illegal streaming by providing a viable alternative.

Until those at the top acknowledge a need to move with the times, though, the needless fleecing for the supposed 'good of the game' will continue apace.

Ezri Konsa is an Arsenal player. The best defence in the world last season just added another excellent ball-playing centre-back and a decent full-back. It's both demoralising for Aston Villa and “what Premier League champions do”.

Much of the conversation is centred on the Europa League winners and the rapid erosion of their spine; Emiliano Martinez replaced, Konsa and Lucas Digne now gone, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers sold, with Ollie Watkins perhaps out of the door, leaving John McGinn presumably running himself even harder into the Villa Park turf next season. For the fans at the very, very least, it's really not fair that a club can win a major European trophy and qualify for the Champions League by finishing ahead of the champions – who spent £400 million, by the way – and sell so many of their top players.

But another corner of the conversation is simply… why? Where does Konsa fit at Arsenal?

The obvious answer is that William Saliba is sidelined for an indeterminate period of time with a back injury, which isn't as simple as just three months on the sidelines and right as rain. The Frenchman might not be back until Christmas. His load will have to be managed.

Gabriel looked tired at times over the summer. If manager Mikel Arteta is to replace his team chronologically, then surely the difficult conversation of when to phase the Brazilian out will rear its head in the next 18 months. January links to Marc Guehi suggest as such.

At right-back, Arteta has had less of a selection headache than a pounding migraine since 2023. Konsa isn't a right-back by trade – but Jurrien Timber is still to return to the fold, having made a brief appearance in the Champions League final before surgery ruled him out of the World Cup. Ben White has had serious struggles with injury over the past few years and cannot be relied upon – thanks, in part, to pushing himself beyond the limits when Timber himself was recuperating from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Cristhian Mosquera is still a solid prospect, but raw. Declan Rice played there at times last season (and for England).

So Arsenal have now stockpiled eight players capable of playing at centre-back: first-choice pairing Saliba and Gabriel; Konsa, Mosquera, Timber and White (who can all play right-back); and Piero Hincapie and Riccardo Calafiori (who are the two primary picks at left-back). Myles Lewis-Skelly can play left-back, too (though is primarily a midfielder), while it can't be ruled out entirely that Rice or Martin Zubimendi move to right-back this season, even in a pinch.

Yet the hierarchy is particularly intriguing. Saliba and Gabriel are undroppable, surely; Calafiori and Hincapie are seemingly interchangeable, thanks to the former's injury issues; Timber starts ahead of White, in part, due to the latter's. Mosquera is still just 22 – but he's trusted enough to start a Champions League final, or to be brought on ahead of more experienced players who, as mentioned, are full-backs now but capable centrally.

Which makes the signing of Konsa ever-more intriguing. Maybe he will usurp White and compete with Timber – maybe he'll even replace Timber (though it feels unlikely, given the Dutchman is in talks for a new contract). Maybe he will compete with Gabriel, though the pair are the same age and Konsa isn't left-footed.

Given what Arsenal have done in attack and midfield, however, it seems clearer than ever that stockpiling elite talent is simply the direction that top teams have to move in.

David Luiz recently told FourFourTwo that he felt that Paris Saint-Germain's failures in the Champions League were at least partly down to squad depth. Last season, Ousmane Dembele started just 10 Ligue 1 games last season. Doue started 16; Kvaratskhelia 18. This summer, they've doubled down to sign Maghnes Akliouche, Ferran Torres and Mika Godts to improve that attacking depth.

The days of Liverpool having no real backup to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah or Fabinho are gone. Manchester City lost Sergio Aguero and cosplayed with false nines for a bit. Pep Guardiola reportedly told his City bosses last summer that he wanted a smaller squad.

When City and Liverpool accrued 195 points between them, the champions had John Stones, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi as their collection of centre-backs – and they were favoured in that order. Kompany had overcome his injury issues and wasn't a guaranteed starter in Pep Guardiola's early tenure; Laporte was still adapting to the league, while Otamendi had his doubters pre-Pep. The runners-up, meanwhile, had Virgil van Dijk as their standout; Joel Matip partnered him 31 times in all competitions, Joe Gomez 25 and Dejan Lovren 18.

Arsenal's centre-backs are a little more difficult to organise. They've gone from Gabriel being the main man and Saliba his protege – with a ‘Break glass for Rob Holding’ behind – to Gabriel and Saliba being equal partners. Konsa is not joining to be a backup.

It's similar elsewhere on the pitch. In Arsenal's three-man midfield in 2024/25, Arteta leant on three senior no.8s and a wildcard (Martin Odegaard, Rice and Mikel Merino, with Ethan Nwaneri to develop) alongside two senior options at no.6 (Thomas Partey and an ageing Jorginho, expected to not play much). In the summer of 2025, he replaced Nwaneri with an established marquee signing, in Eberechi Eze (and kept Nwaneri, for good measure, until January), and replaced both Partey and Jorginho with Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard. He has replaced Norgaard with another Premier League captain in Bruno Guimaraes, and Lewis-Skelly has established himself in that position, too.

Arsenal used all four ‘defensive’ midfield players – i.e., Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Rice and Zubimendi – in the Community Shield. Some games will call for Odegaard this season, others for Eze; some will call for both. Merino didn't touch grass. It looks like only Nwaneri will leave (either permanently or otherwise).

On the right wing, Bukayo Saka had no serious back-up for a while. Nwaneri moonlighted there; Raheem Sterling joined on loan. Yet the club invested serious money in Noni Madueke last summer, and Max Dowman has been shown a path at 16 years of age. Likewise, it seems like Viktor Gyokeres was not signed merely to be a backup to Kai Havertz but to compete and complement the German, with the pair featuring alongside each other on more than one occasion.

It's not clear who will play how many minutes this season at Arsenal. While there was a clear hierarchy previously – and at previous Premier League champions – it feels a lot less defined these days.

Who is City's best centre-back, of Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol? In fact, who's the first-choice pairing? Who is Arsenal's best midfield double-pivot? Does Arteta even know where Konsa will slot in, or does he just want depth for depth's sake, because it's better to have that than no one?

None of this is unusual. Arsenal didn't exactly need another right-back when Ben White was in his pomp, but signed Timber anyway; likewise, Kieran Tierney was one of the club's more important players when Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced him. While we speak of football clubs having first XIs and back-ups, it's never really like that: injuries play their part, of course, and managers will always claim that they want two competing players in every position. Even in Arsenal's last great era, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry were the gold standard, but Sylvain Wiltord and Nwankwo Kanu won the league at Old Trafford. All four were established internationals.

But even from then, it feels like we've shifted to super squads now. More than ever, it feels like players are happier to play 70 per cent of fixtures and have elite competition, simply because of how much football there is. Liverpool went out and signed Luis Diaz in a January window to compete with Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota. And that's really normal these days. They signed Alexander Isak when they already had Hugo Ekitike.

One of the best defenders in the country isn't necessarily needed at Arsenal. The Gunners could well have made a Ronald Araujo-type signing, promoted youngster Marli Salmon to more minutes, brought in a clear backup – either a 22-year-old to develop or a 32-year-old to cover. The fact they have made another £50m+ signing is as much a sign of how far they've come as it is an indicator of the depth and investment now needed at the top.

Roberto De Zerbi. One step. Winning the race for Mateus Fernandes. Another step. Breaking up Newcastle United's midfield unit with an audacious Sandro Tonali swoop. Another.

Tottenham Hotspur have taken three huge strides away from the nadir of their banter era – namely back-to-back 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League, a wound that, at points, even a Europa League triumph failed to strap up.

But one moment this summer threatened to plunge them right back to the unedifying start.

We’re talking, of course, about the mooted transfer of Cristian Romero to sworn enemies Arsenal.

The Argentinian centre-back, while clearly one of their more gifted talents in these dark years, had been a thorn in the side of Spurs for some time off the pitch.

Unafraid to call out higher-ups, Spurs fans quite liked some of the spikier elements of the defender's personality. But when he was missing in action for the Lilywhites’ relegation-decider against Everton at the end of last season, positive feelings soon evaporated. From then, the writing was on the wall.

A parting of the ways was somewhat telegraphed, but that one sensational transfer link to the other side of north London threatened to take a knife to Spurs’ patchwork quilt of a reputation.

It’s not that Romero would have vastly improved a rival. In fact, he’d have probably struggled to break the Gabriel-Saliba duopoly over the Gunners’ backline, dependent on the latter's fitness.

Football is a patch of grass and 22 players chasing around a bag of air. But in the modern day, with the vast sums of money involved, it is also a game of hubris.

Its exponents can try to rise above that petty truth, but it is a truth. These things matter. They feed into how a club views itself.

Luis Figo. Ashley Cole. S*l C******l.

These transfers not only come to define the career of the individual involved, but also entire eras in football teams and their cities.

Joan Gaspart, Barcelona’s president as Figo made that move, said it “destroyed” the club. And that’s Barcelona.

In a frenzied race to try and save face amid the backlash, the former executive admits he rushed to get new faces through the door.

It didn’t work. The Catalans didn’t lift another major trophy for another five years, when 2004/05 brought LaLiga back to Camp Nou.

Five years. An entire peak of a player’s career gone in the click of one transfer. That’s how damaging these moves can be.

Now, it would be hyperbolic to suggest Romero rocking up at the Emirates would have been anywhere near as seismic as Figo’s move – pigs need never have feared for their heads in the English capital – but it illustrates a point: history has shown it’s a game to be avoided at all costs.

Thankfully, those at Tottenham recognised this, with concrete talks seemingly never countenanced. Each and every report carrying the same disclaimer that they wouldn't even enter the discussion.

As the Sky Sports News ticker unfurled with the story, it threatened to swipe Spurs’ recent progress with it. Instead, in this new-era, cold-faced Spurs, the drama fizzled out as soon as it had sparked.

It was replaced by news that Romero was heading to the stage for that Figo scandal 26 years earlier, to Madrid. Only it was Atletico rather than Real for the 28-year-old.

A match made in heaven, Romero will be at home under Atleti’s legendary Argentinian coach, Diego Simeone, and his Dark Arts enthusiasts – an apt resolution for all parties involved, even if the defender's exit from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium did his legacy in N17 no favours.

A development that at one point may have derailed Tottenham, their progression train continues to chug ahead without a scratch.

Spurs look serious and decisive this summer. And they might just mean it this time.

Surviving in the Premier League as a newly promoted club is never easy, but Hull City have decided to approach the challenge like a game of Monopoly - because they don't have any other choice.

The Tigers have dumped their wallet onto the board, rolling the dice on a number of summer arrivals.

It is an ambitious, high-risk strategy that will either prove to be a masterstroke of recruitment or send them straight back from whence they came, without passing go.

Hull City are playing Premier League Monopoly

To understand why Hull’s hierarchy felt compelled to completely overhaul the dressing room, you have to look back at how they got here.

Statistically speaking, Hull were one of the poorest sides to ever secure promotion from the Championship. Their underlying metrics painted the picture of a team dramatically over-performing their Expected Goals (xG) and points tallies, relying on special individual moments to drag themselves over the line.

Standing still with that exact core in the top flight would have left Sergej Jakirovic woefully ill-equipped. The squad desperately needed surgery, and so the club have opted for a partial reboot.

The profile of incoming talent tells its own story. Hull have raided the market for players of a calibre that could be considered top-end of the Championship like Joe Gelhardt, Luke Herrington, Jack Butland, and Matt Targett.

They've sprinkled Jakirovic's squad with wildcards like Konstantinos Tzolakis and Nobel Mendy - unknown quantities in English football but could come to be considered lower-end Premier League players.

Through no fault of their own, Hull City are betting heavily that second-tier stars can make the step up, while lower-end top-flight names can hit the ground running, simultaneously.

There is a simple reality at play here: if any of these players were the finished article, clubs much higher up the footballing food chain would have snapped them up.

They are only available for a club in Hull's position because the more accomplished sides have question marks about their ceiling, consistency, or physical durability.

No signing encapsulates this approach better than Lucas Gourna-Douath. Once heralded as one of European football’s premier young midfield prodigies, the Frenchman’s career trajectory has stalled in recent seasons.

Taking a gamble on him as a newly-promoted side is the ultimate draw from the 'Chance' deck.

If Gourna-Douath unlocks his potential at the MKM Stadium, Hull might have landed on Mayfair for a bargain price. But if those early career scouting reports were overhyped and he simply isn't cut out for the Premier League, it becomes an expensive flop that leaves their midfield exposed.

What cannot be disputed is the spirit within the camp. Battling through adversity to snatch promotion proved that the squad possesses remarkable togetherness and complete buy-in for their manager.

But in the brutal environment of the top flight, grit and team harmony only act as a temporary 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Eventually, it's quality, tactics and squad depth that decide your fate.

For Hull City, success this season is straightforward: survival. Achieving that would represent an extraordinary accomplishment given the sheer scale of the squad's transition.

On the flip side, the nightmare scenario is irredeemable. If these gambles crash and burn simultaneously, Hull could potentially threaten Derby County’s infamous 11-point record as the poorest side in Premier League history. Mauled by the Tigers? Mauled by the rest of the league, more like.

Liverpool’s decision to sanction Curtis Jones’ imminent £30 million transfer to Inter Milan is understandable from a purely financial standpoint.

The midfielder has already entered the final 12 months of his Anfield contract, meaning this summer represents the club’s last opportunity to recoup a significant fee rather than risk losing a homegrown asset for nothing next year.

Cashing in on an academy graduate delivers a neat £30m boost to the balance sheet. But, from a sporting perspective, taking a red pen to the squad's engine room midway through August is...certainly a decision.

Curtis Jones could hold the key to Liverpool's success or failure in 2026/27

Unless an immediate, top-tier replacement is lined up and has been kept under wraps from the press, it raises a glaring question: what on earth are Liverpool doing?

The expected sale leaves Liverpool’s central midfield looking rather thin, relying almost entirely on a core trio: Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Dominik Szoboszlai.

While those three have top level Premier League quality, the depth behind them is less so.

Wataru Endo remains in the squad, but the Japanese international is fundamentally a functional, defensive backup rather than someone equipped to start three matches a week.

Nineteen-year-old Trey Nyoni has featured throughout pre-season, but it's a big ask to expect him to replace one of the more senior players in that position.

Going into a campaign with essentially three senior central midfielders for two starting spots is...certainly a decision.

This level of depth, or lack thereof, is especially baffling when considering Andoni Iraola’s demanding, high-pressing style of play.

Iraola’s setup requires energy, relentless off-the-ball counter-pressing, and continuous box-to-box engine work in central areas.

Expecting Mac Allister, Gravenberch, and Szoboszlai to sustain that level of intense physical exertion across four competitions is, in FourFourTwo's opinion, asking for trouble.

In the modern game, muscle fatigue and soft-tissue injuries are an inevitability over a 50-plus match season.

Making matters worse is Liverpool’s habit of drafting central midfielders into emergency roles elsewhere on the pitch. In recent seasons, defensive shortages have repeatedly forced central players, most notably Szoboszlai, to plug holes at right-back.

If a full-back injury forces Iraola to slide Szoboszlai out wide again, Liverpool’s central midfield options are diminished overnight.

Granted, almost a fortnight remains before the transfer window shuts, but the transfer rumour mill offers precious little comfort.

Liverpool’s current recruitment drive is firmly focused on bringing in a wide attacker, according to reports, rather than bolstering the middle of the park. While speculative links to Adam Wharton persist, any late approach will be strongly rebuffed by Crystal Palace, who have no intention of parting with their prized asset so late in August.

Even if a deal were possible, Wharton himself may hold out for a rumoured move to Manchester City in 12 months' time. By choosing to bank £30m for Jones on the brink of contract expiry, Liverpool may have solved an accounting issue, only to leave themselves one injury away from a full-blown crisis.

In isolation, banking £30m for Jones who is on the brink of contract expiry is a good bit of business. But in current circumstances, it can only be deemed good business if Liverpool have someone else lined up in that position, who will meet Iraola's needs and elevate the profile of the squad. Even then, it mightn't be enough and Liverpool could find themselves running on fumes by March, coasting to the finish.

It's May 2025 and Ajax fans are reeling.

In one of the biggest collapses in Eredivisie history, their side has just thrown away a nine-point lead in just six matches, handing the title into the incredulous arms of PSV Eindhoven.

Scapegoats to apportion blame are instantly sought. And very quickly, one conspicuous difference between the sides during the season rears its head - scoring goals.

Across 34 games in the campaign, PSV found the net a substantial 36 more times than their main title rival. And a significant reason for that was the struggles of Ajax's forwards, in particular one Brian Brobbey.

The Dutchman had ended up with just four league goals - fewer than the top scorers at two of the relegated sides, Almere City and RKC Waalwijk. This stretched to merely 7 in 44 appearances in all competitions.

The fact that this pitiful return came just one year after the best goalscoring season of his career perfectly encapsulated Brobbey’s time in Amsterdam, which repetitively veered from exciting potential to frustrating inconsistency. In a mixed time with his boyhood club, Brobbey often sparked without truly setting alight.

It meant that, when Brobbey was, as expected, sold that summer, the overriding feeling was that it was right for both club and player. If there was any major emotion, it was surprise that he had secured a Premier League move, with newly promoted Sunderland coughing up a reported £21.6 million fee.

Fast-forward a year and the Life of Brian looks totally different.

Few could have predicted that just over a year after that tepid end to his Ajax career, Brobbey would not only be starting for the Netherlands at the 2026 World Cup but wreaking havoc upon opposition defences. For a long period, fans of the Oranje viewed Brobbey at best as a muscular impact sub and a squad player. Now, after scoring three goals in three starts at a tournament where he also linked the play brilliantly and showed his pace and power in abundance, he is the undoubted first-choice no.9 for the foreseeable future.

It has proven to be one of the more remarkable redemption arcs of the past year. And it all started with the foresight of those at the Stadium of Light.

The Brobbey Paradox

Those who watched Brobbey a lot in the Eredivisie would have perhaps considered that if the Black Cats were after that vital ingredient to ensure Premier League survival - a goalscoring striker - then Brobbey was better off being left on the shelf for someone else.

The academy graduate had previously returned to Ajax after a difficult half-season with RB Leipzig, initially on loan and then permanently in 2022. Even factoring in the leniency given to players with time on their side, there was a clear Brobbey paradox over the course of the next three and a half seasons.

One game he would look like a young player with all the attributes to become one of the world’s best old-school centre forwards. The next like one of those bigger kids who’d get picked for the school football team, but then give the distinct impression that they had never properly seen a football in their life.

As fans of Sunderland will now attest, Brobbey is able to combine fantastic strength and hold-up play with speed and a predatory instinct to get himself into the right positions in the box. The problem was, too often at Ajax he would do everything right but then fail to supply the necessary finish. It was as if a scientist had constructed the perfect young centre forward but then got distracted when applying the final and most important touches.

Blossoming in the North East

It turns out there was a real striker in there. He just needed the North East, not North Holland, to blossom.

With his physical attributes, there was no doubt Brobbey was going to be able to cope with the rough and tumble of Premier League football. Nevertheless, it has been a surprise - including to those across the North Sea - at how quickly he settled into life on Wearside.

A total of seven Premier League goals and one assist aren’t exactly big numbers on their own to get excited about, yet it was the nature of these contributions and the wider improvements in his game that have been so impressive.

After a slow start where he was initially brought in off the bench, two moments kick-started his career in England - one showed the player he has been, the other the player he is quickly becoming. In an away win at Chelsea, it was Brobbey’s superb strength, hold-up play and lay-off that enabled the cavalry to arrive in the form of Chemsdine Talbi to score a late winner. It was textbook Brobbey. Then, two weeks later we saw a far rarer side to his game with an acrobatic 94th-minute finish to earn a point against Arsenal. It was the sort of instinctive play that was often missing at Ajax.

At present, Brobbey looks like a man increasingly able to deliver at crucial moments. Last season included late equalisers against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, the equaliser that sparked an away win against Everton, plus winning goals against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and of course in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park. Throw in the aforementioned assist against Chelsea, and Brobbey directly played a part in securing 11 points for his team. Without them, Sunderland wouldn’t have been qualifying for Europe but ending just four points outside the relegation zone, nestled in between Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.

The capacity Brobbey has for drawing in defenders and being a physical nuisance is also invaluable for Sunderland when looking to get up the pitch, freeing up space for others. His quick turn of pace to break into the box - often after laying the ball off and spinning in behind - is frightening when he gets it right. The best example of this was his opening goal against Sweden at the World Cup, when he looked more like a 100 metre sprinter than a footballer.

On his day, watching Brobbey can feel like being taken back in time to an era of old school strikers getting their hands dirty, backing into defenders and revelling in the physicality of it all. A player happy to run the channels and to simply get in the box to cause some mayhem. He looks like he was made to play in the noughties, running out to ITV Football’s ‘Beautiful Day’ theme tune.

The really exciting thing about Brobbey is that theoretically there is still so much more to come from a player who is only 24 years of age. The challenge for the Amsterdammer is to now take his output to another level, and prove that he can get over the fallow periods that have previously knocked his confidence. Some strikers give an aura that they know they were made to score goals. Sometimes you feel Brobbey needs a calm tap on the shoulder to remind him of his potential.

According to XG Stat, compared to other Premier League strikers, he was in the top 16% for goal conversion last season but in the bottom 25% for non-penalty expected goals, demonstrating that if he can refine his decision-making in the attacking third, his ceiling for goal numbers is high. And for a player who does his damage within the penalty area, being in the bottom 22% for touches in the box per 90 minutes clearly needs improvement. Furthermore, as outlined by FotMob, a player who is one of the best in the whole division for aerial duels should definitely be having more than just six headed efforts on goal across a whole season.

An enigma no more

For much of his short career, Brobbey has been a bit of a footballing enigma. Could he actually be a good striker or not?

The question marks over his capacity to play in the Premier League were also understandable. Especially when, as has been proven in recent years, Dutch strikers in England - a bit like their country’s local Bitterballen cuisine - have been hit-and-miss. For every Ruud van Nistelrooy, there’s been a Memphis Depay.

There is room for improvement, but the doubters have been proven wrong. And the humble pie for those who doubted him, is still being eaten.

The different pieces needed for Brobbey to become a high-level centre forward were always there. Perhaps all it needed was the right environment to place them correctly together.

It's one thing to take your rivals' players. It's another thing to weaken midtable. Sir Alex Ferguson was a master of it, specifically in attack: in 13 Premier League-winning seasons, Manchester United only dropped below 70 goals four times, as Ferguson crafted a formula to rejuvenate his forward line.

This was pre-xG, and simple enough to do every season: go and buy leading midtable forwards who will want to step up – and overpay if you need to.

Dwight Yorke. Teddy Sheringham. Louis Saha. Dimitar Berbatov. Alan Smith. Robin van Persie, if you want to stretch the parameters. Cristiano Ronaldo left in 2009: he was replaced by Antonio Valencia and Michael Owen. Ferguson still got his 80+ goals.

And sometimes, football really is as straightforward as that. Goals win football matches; the Premier League is a tough league to adapt to. Title rivals won't sell you their best players, but teams a little lower down the table will if you offer what they're worth to them. Taking a punt on a striker from abroad will either result in a Forlan or a Van Nistelrooy; a Bellion or a Solskjaer. With all due respect to data nerds, scouts, analysts and numbers guys, we can all look at Eric Cantona and have a reasonable idea of how he will translate an hour down the road.

Arsenal last made this kind of signing in 2023 – and even then, it wasn't there first-choice. When the Gunners were hijacked in the 11th hour for Mykhailo Mudryk, they pivoted like never before, bringing in Leandro Trossard for a fee under £25 million. It was a Sliding Door for the Ukrainian, if ever there was one: but surely even the world's greatest optimist couldn't have seen that signing panning out as well as Trossard's did.

The Belgian needed no adaptation time. He scored within weeks, rejuvenated Mikel Arteta's attack immediately and went on to become – hopefully it's not soon to say it, given what he did – a club legend. And yet Arsenal never again went and made the same kind of signing.

Not once in the last three years have Arsenal signed a league-leading attacker from a team outside the so-called ‘big six’ – and they barely had done for the decade prior. Jamie Vardy infamously turned them down after winning a league title with Leicester City. The Gunners bought Nicolas Pepe over Wilfried Zaha. Chelsea wanted rid of Kai Havertz (and we can't straightfacedly call them midtable), so it wasn't quite the same thing – the same is true of Noni Madueke, and anyway, were either of them truly tearing it up prior to joining Arsenal?

Not really. Riyad Mahrez seemingly only had eyes for Manchester City – but Antoine Semenyo was there for the taking. A steep fee at the time of around £60m for a player who Arsenal didn't desperately need – but one that they'd love to bring in now. Anthony Gordon was around £40m when Newcastle United plucked him from Everton – and a little under double that this summer. Arsenal had serious interest – but passed both times.

Arsenal weren't seriously in the conversation for Matheus Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo. They didn't pull the trigger on Pedro Neto – despite wanting him at one stage. They didn't sign Ivan Toney when they had the chance, or even Ollie Watkins. They didn't want Alexander Isak last summer. Granted, these kinds of signings aren't guaranteed to be big hits – but they were absent from conversations surrounding Richarlison and Dominic Solanke, too.

It's strange, considering that Arsenal will happily ”overpay” in midfield. Bidding for Bruno Guimaraes started far below the £75m mark that he eventually cost. There appeared to be hesitation to pay around £60m needed to buy Eberechi Eze, before Spurs spurred Arsenal into action. Board member Josh Kroenke has admitted that Declan Rice cost more than he expected.

The last of which seems like a bargain, surely, even for £105m. Like most clubs, Arsenal have their valuations when it comes to players – but is it really worth holding back the tide of inflation like Cnut, or are you cutting your nose off to spite your face?

There's seemingly a reluctance to buy a Rice or a Bruno or an Eze to improve the attack. Thinking ahead to the rest of the window – and the next couple – are Arsenal going to step up an approach for Junior Kroupi? Morgan Rogers was supposedly the big summer target, but they were reportedly reluctant to pay over the odds. Rayan at Bournemouth could become a top-level attacker. Nick Woltemade would make some sense. You get the feeling, for whatever reason, that Arsenal would are more likely to sign a 'big six’ offcast, like a Cody Gakpo, an Omar Marmoush or a Nicolas Jackson.

With all the Prem-proven attackers they've had in Arteta's time, Arsenal have looked to outsmart the market in attack. Gabriel Jesus wasn't wanted elsewhere. Gabriel Martinelli cost relative pennies but could be moulded into what was wanted. Raheem Sterling was a low-cost loan with only upside. Madueke had potential. Former Brighton man Viktor Gyokeres was seen as better value than Benjamin Sesko.

For all the names mentioned, of course, Christos Tzolis could well turn out to be the signing of the season. Two assists in the Community Shield for what looks like Trossard regen, signed for under £40m: frankly, no one will care that Arsenal didn't sign Rogers if the Greek continues at even half the pace he's set. Sometimes, it's those kind of transfers – the gem from abroad that no one was looking at, able to contribute double-figures from the start – who can make all the difference.

And not everyone can sign them. That's no doubt Arsenal's counter to all of this: not everyone can sign a Mohamed Salah. Otherwise, we'd all have a Mohamed Salah.

But where's their Sadio Mane?

Myles Lewis-Skelly is not simply part of Arsenal’s future. He is very much part of the champions’ vibrant present. Headlines linking the teenager with a move away thankfully disappeared for good in Cardiff on Sunday.

The Community Shield often throws up more questions than answers, but one argument certainly settled, and no doubt dispelled in the 3-0 humbling of Manchester City, was the importance of Lewis-Skelly to Arsenal for footballing and financial reasons.

Arsenal should sell even world champions like Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino before even considering moving on Lewis-Skelly. He’s that important.

One down, 60-odd to go

He’s more than a number for Arsenal, even an obscure number in 49 vacated by an Estonian goalkeeper, Karl Hein, now Werder Bremen’s No.1. He’s more than a talented midfield option to rotate in when the new first choice of Declan Rice and Bruno Guimaraes has done its ferocious work and needs a break or the game is won.

Given the innate impatience of youth, the teenager will want to play every game. But there are so many. Arsenal are one game into what could prove a 68-game marathon. Mikel Arteta will sensibly rest and rotate, ensuring freshness for each game, a lesson surely learned from Rice’s draining workload last season.

“MLS” brings energy and intensity of press. He brings composure and invention in possession. For Arsenal’s first against City, Lewis-Skelly calmly let the ball run across him and then guided Riccardo Calafiori through on goal. Few players have the intelligence to see that pass and the technique to deliver it. He spots opportunity early. That anticipation and nimbleness, changing direction quickly, reflects early years as a tennis prospect.

He’s versatile, best in central midfield but launching himself onto the scene with Arsenal and England at left-back. He played centre-back for his school team but lacks the height. There are elements to his game that still needing work, including developing his shooting, but he’s still only 19. Like any young professional, MLS will be learning the art of total devotion to his craft. He certainly has great role models to learn from at London Colney.

MLS is an exciting symbol of a trait that fans always love – one of their own, an admired academy graduate, a link between the dressing room and the stands. He’s a Hale End boy, joining at eight, and imbued in the ways of the club like Bukayo Saka and the poster-boy for the next generation, Max Dowman. In the age of sky-high transfer fees and clubs needing to balance their books (which Arsenal do well), it makes even more sense to develop talent. The flaw in the system is that it then encourages clubs to sell the homegrown as it goes down in the books as pure profit.

How much is MLS worth? Headlines have him at £45m, which seems laughably low, almost disrespectful. He’s 19, got four years left on his contract and is an England international (with the added Three Lions premium to any fee).

Little fazes him: he scored against City in 2025 and famously mimicked Erling Haaland’s meditation celebration. The act felt more cheeky than insolent or arrogant and was a slight response to Haaland’s previous “who are you?” during an Etihad flare-up. MLS is not short on character.

He provided an assist against Real Madrid and scored on his England debut. Arteta rated the teenager highly enough to start him ahead of Zubimendi in last May’s Champions League final against Paris St-Germain. Best in a double pivot, Lewis-Skelly enjoyed helping Guimaraes dominate Elliot Anderson and the struggling Mateo Kovacic in Cardiff.

Talk of him leaving, however brief and caused by whoever, was dispiriting. Arsenal are a global institution, with players and supporters drawn from all over, and that is a celebration of their appeal and welcoming nature. But reminders of their roots, their Englishness, need protecting and promoting. Local heroes are part of Arsenal’s history going back to Tony Adams and Charlie George.

Midway through the second half at the Principality Stadium, Arsenal fans began singing about the late, great David Rocastle, whose name, image and mission statement adorn parts of Hale End. “Remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent.” MLS represents Arsenal’s present and future.

‘Out of darkness cometh light.’ So read the banners spanning the centre of Molineux’s South Bank before Wolverhampton Wanderers played their Championship opener against Blackburn Rovers.

It’s not a difficult message to comprehend. Wolves suffered an utterly miserable relegation from the Premier League in 2025-26, effectively left to wither by the very people responsible for nourishing them. 2026-27 is new. New promise. New bigwigs. New gaffer.

But the dawn of each new season gives lie to one of football’s great false assumptions. The Wolves supporters converging on Molineux in the scorching Friday evening sunshine resplendent in gold don’t care what division they’re in. At least not tonight.

A dose of Championship reality

Starting from zero offers the cruel extremes of elation or misery. This opening night threatened to end badly for Wolves, who scored first but found themselves behind against a Blackburn team expected to improve under returning manager Tony Mowbray.

The danger posed by established Championship teams to relegated opponents is that they can be sturdy and streetwise. Blackburn were both in the West Midlands in their first game of the season.

2026-27 is a bracing test for Wolves. The bar is high; the expectation that they will return to the Premier League at the first time of asking isn’t universally held but it was overheard frequently on the streets outside the ground without much need to strain the ears.

Relegated teams have certain advantages over other promotion hopefuls but those who drop on the back of disastrous seasons can be difficult to turn around.

The new manager tasked with that job is Cesar Peixoto, a 46-year-old former Porto midfielder who is in his first managerial role outside Portugal and never played a competitive match beyond its borders either.

Peixoto told reporters after their 2-2 draw with Blackburn that Wolves wanted all three points. He wasn’t happy with one but they were perhaps fortunate to even get that. The clock ticked into stoppage time with Rovers in front.

The goals scored by the away team pointed to a vulnerable spot that Wolves can expect opposition managers to target in every Championship fixture until Peixoto resolves it. Understandably, he wasn’t overly concerned after one match.

Yet it was a clear and repeatable blueprint that yielded both Blackburn goals.

Both came from deliveries into the box right under the nose of the goalkeeper and were finished with one touch by a player lurking in what ice hockey lovers would describe as the blue paint.

Sean McLoughlin smartly glanced a header beyond Dan Bentley to draw the visitors level. Andri Gudjohnsen turned in Oladapo Afolayan’s pass across the face to give them the lead. Both were defendable but not defended, good finishes from an attacking perspective but concerning for Wolves.

Wolves were saved by Raul Jimenez’s penalty in stoppage time

‘Out of darkness, cometh light.’

In need of a goal, Peixoto turned to a Molineux favourite. Weeks after playing in a home World Cup, Mexico striker Raul Jimenez played his first Championship match at his other home.

Jimenez, now 35, followed Wolves into the second tier after his contract expired at Fulham. The fans around Molineux know exactly what they’re getting from a striker with 55 Premier League goals to his name, but only half of his Wolves story can be told on paper.

The Mexican hitman supplied a commemorative scarf to every fan on the South Bank. That’s the kind of figure Jimenez is at Wolves. The buzz when he came on was palpable and Peixoto was rewarded for giving the faithful what they wanted.

After replacing highly rated young winger Matheus Mane, Jimenez did what Jimenez does.

He won some flick-ons. He got himself into the box and tried to nick a goal by throwing a leg at anything small, round and rolling he could find. He let his opponents know he was there, naturally, but the first goal of his second spell at Wolves was familiar in another way.

Mowbray and Blackburn disputed the decision to award a stoppage-time penalty for Ryan Alebiosu’s handball, but once the offence had been adjudged to have taken place inside the box, what happened next in front of a sea of Jimenez’s scarves was never in doubt.

It truly didn’t matter in that moment whether Jimenez was scoring in the Premier League or the Championship or League One or anywhere else.

If Matthias Jaissle needed a reminder of the task he has inherited at Newcastle United this season, he got a rather harsh one inside 45 seconds at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Bayer Leverkusen were the prestigious visitors for the first part of a pre-season double-header a week before the new Premier League season. The sides met in the Champions League in December, drawing 2-2 at the BayArena. But the Magpies are on a very different path now, a fact that was made eminently clear from the moment Ibrahim Maza fired past new signing Lukas Hornicek at the Gallowgate End from distance. Newcastle recovered to level before half-time through Malick Thiaw before substitute Victor Boniface scored the winner.

On Sunday, Will Osula scored in another disappointing draw with French side Strasbourg, ending in defeat on penalties. Both games taught Jaissle more about what he was missing than what he had.

Newcastle United had two friendlies over the weekend – with plenty to learn in each

Maza was the difference on the first afternoon, offering Leverkusen the sort of creativity the Magpies have badly lacked for years. Every time he got the ball, he was in space and faxing goal, seemingly knowing where all of his team-mates were.

Although staff has since changed on almost every level, Newcastle tracked the Algerian as a teenager while he was at Hertha Berlin. Eddie Howe was criticised for a lack of ingenuity in his side, and Jaissle has gone on to lose Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes who could have gone some way to providing it.

The German likes to utilise a no.10 in a 4-2-3-1 system; not only was Maza making Leverkusen tick, he was showing what Newcastle were missing. You sense if they were to try and move for him now, he’d cost three or four times what he would a year ago.

After a harrowing summer of change on Tyneside, there is a need not only for three or four experienced players to strengthen particular positions, but signings that excite and prove to the existing squad and fans, that the Saudi-led project is still alive. Five years on from the takeover, the hard reset has left many contemplating the Public Investment Fund’s appetite for it given the changing political landscape in the Middle East.

Judging on pre-season is always a risk because results, by definition, don’t matter. Stretching the first team squad over two games just before the competitive action starts, though, seems somewhat counterintuitive. With both squads made up by benches full of academy players, it was always hard to read what would happen once substitutions were made.

“We needed to split,” Jaissle said on Saturday.

“First of all, because it doesn’t make sense that the the lads play two games in a row. But the most important thing now in the last friendlies that you see everyone over 90 minutes, and there are different approaches.

“Some of them, they could use one more training day, especially the guys who returned later or came back from an injury. So there are many aspects to consider, and again, it has nothing to do with with a starting XI or not.”

Across both days, Jaissle was forced to face reality in a number of different ways. Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, the two forwards hastily signed under Howe to replace Alexander Isak in 2025, are not quite clicking together. Wissa is undoubtedly sharper than he ever has been in a black and white shirt, but that bar was painfully follow. Woltemade still looks like a square peg in a round hole, and although there is goodwill and a desire to make their record signing a success, a nagging sense that club and player should part ways is growing.

Then there is Osula: the most unpredictable striker at the club. Every touch of the ball generates anticipation, with any moment possessing the potential to be stunning and magical or a complete let down. In that sense, he is the perfect poster boy for the era to come at St James’ Park.

Excitement at the unknown is to be commended, because the usual response is fear. Based on both of these games, Newcastle are far from ready. They insist more business will follow before the transfer deadline, with Benfica fullback Amar Dedic likely to be confirmed this week, but that alone won’t be enough.

Someone like Maza would flick a switch and instantly reinvigorate everybody, giving Jaissle a stronger chance of making an impact. As of now, though, with Liverpool and the opening day less than a week away, Newcastle are undercooked and playing catch up. Turning things around will only get harder from here.

Frank Lampard has been here before. The Premier League was his playground for nearly two decades and he was indisputably one of its greatest ever players by the time he left it behind.

He’s been here as a manager, too, with both Everton and former club Chelsea. The Coventry City boss is no Premier League novice but it’s different this time. His work at Goodison Park and Stamford Bridge had merit but the three years since his third Chelsea exit have been the making of him.

Steering the Sky Blues to promotion as the winners of the Championship in his first full season in charge was a serious achievement. Owner Doug King gave no indication in the autumn of 2024 that he felt he was taking a risk by appointing Lampard, who has repaid that confidence many times over.

Lampard is back among the big boys

Others weren’t so convinced. There are still doubters now, not least those whose interest begins and ends with the Premier League. They’ve seen Lampard deliver results in the form of promotion but the substance, the material evolution of Lampard the Gaffer in the West Midlands, remains out of view.

Expecting the same Lampard is folly. We’ve all learned a lot in three years, about ourselves and our lives and our priorities, about our strengths, weaknesses, methods and motivations.

Lampard is no different, and yet it must be acknowledged that, yes, the immediate task he faces is a difficult one.

Transfer activity has to be carried out in quantity and quality, but is impossible to complete.

City have that in common with most promoted teams but have invested heavily to bring in players they hope – with some justification – will prove shrewd acquisitions.

Carl Rushworth was their number one all along. Frank Onyeka was an easy choice in midfield after a positive loan. Gustavo Hamer is the returning hero seeking the creative freedom of home.

Loum Tchaouna and Aurele Amenda are big-money, high-potential risks; Caleb Yirenki the young superstar record buy.

King, Lampard and Dean Austin have already achieved a lot in the transfer window and there will be more to come, but Coventry will start the season at a disadvantage as a club promoted into the Premier League for the first time in the modern era. They have a world of work to do and none of it is easy.

The cost of the spotlight

Lampard returns to the Premier League as a more skilled and more experienced manager but his deftness and adaptability were developed away from the hyper-exposed top division.

It’s possible to look at Lampard’s managerial career as a series of specific challenges. Both spells at Chelsea were appointments of hopeful convenience, Derby County a mutual show of ambition, and Everton a rescue mission.

Whether or not it’s overly generous to say that he was more of a success in those roles than he’s given credit for is beside the point. Lampard did all this as a young boss, in the years when many managers are able to learn and fail and evolve away from the glare under which he was operating.

Lampard at 48 is a different kind of coaching archetype, cerebral and even studious without being yet another caricature off the one-dimensional high-performance conveyer belt. He’s dedicated but thriving, it might be said, precisely because of the respect he has for balance in life.

When advice is offered by people who succeeded in management before him, Lampard is able to take it on board without questioning his own outlook and methods. In time, he has become a more rounded manager than he was when he last took charge of a Premier League match.

Lampard has tactical ideas and plans like any other manager but doesn’t allow them to hold him back. In a Championship title race that occasionally threatened to become competitive, Lampard succeeded not as an idealogue but as a manager who found a way to build a team that finds a way.

Coventry’s resilience will be the making of their manager

The pivotal moment in Coventry’s season and Lampard’s managerial career came in February, when the injury-hit Sky Blues found themselves looking up at Middlesbrough from second place after the Teessiders logged their sixth win in a row.

Coventry, winless in three and with two wins in their last eight Championship matches, beat Boro relatively comfortable in their very next game, won six on the spin and never looked back.

The bond between Lampard and Coventry is real and their new adventure is a shared one, but all outcomes are possible amid the trials and tribulations of a promoted club. Even good managers need a fair wind in that brutal first season.

Coventry might stay up, they might go down. Lampard might last the season regardless, he might get an offer he can’t refuse from elsewhere. King might be the man to make that decision, as unlikely as it seems now.

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the only thing we can be relatively certain about is that Lampard, one way or another, will be among the Premier League managers again next season.

I’ll start this week by writing about Barcelona’s pursuit of Rodri, who proved he’s the best player in that position after his outstanding World Cup. As I've said many times, when Pep Guardiola explained that you won't see the best of Rodri until the World Cup—he was spot on. I thought he was fantastic for Spain, and it'd be a huge blow for Manchester City if he left.

City are going to play hardball, and I don't blame them, because I think he's got a year left on his contract. So they might keep him for another year and then let him go in the summer. But from the outside, it seems like he wants to go to Barcelona. It'd be some coup for them, because I think he'd be fantastic there.

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That style of football suits Rodri perfectly. Barcelona have a similar style of play to Spain, and lots of their players are in the national team. He would easily slot into their midfield and make things happen.

'Araújo alongside Virgil van Dijk is brilliant'

One player who has left Barcelona this summer is Ronald Araújo, after joining Liverpool. His biggest issue will be staying fit after having lots of injury problems last season. He’s missed a lot of football, but he’s someone with natural talent. Liverpool needed to go into the market to get a defender, and they got one.

Obviously, Giovanni Leoni is coming back, but is still a young player learning his trade. So I think having Araújo alongside Virgil van Dijk is brilliant. Hopefully he just stays fit, and can produce some of the form that we saw at Barcelona.

Someone else whose name has been touted with a transfer is Myles Lewis-Skelly. We all knew him as a left-back, but I thought he was outstanding after coming into midfield for Arsenal. He can play in numerous positions, and you can understand why a club like Manchester United would be linked with him. They want to strengthen in midfield, and he could also be a long-term successor to Luke Shaw at left-back. And you can see why Chelsea are keen on him, because they've lost Marc Cucurella, and he just fits straight into that hole.

But if I'm Arsenal, I'm not selling Lewis-Skelly to a rival, that's for sure. They are likely to go deep into the cup competitions and are the favourites to win the Premier League. So you're going to need your squad, and Lewis-Skelly is the type of player you would like to call upon.

If I was him at 19-years-old, I'd probably stay for at least another season. I'd be thinking to myself that I’m with the Premier League champions, so I would want to stay there and I want to fight for my position.

I want to say to Mikel Arteta, ‘I'm good enough to get into this team.’ And that's how he's got to be thinking. It looks like Arsenal want him to stay and Lewis-Skelly wants to stay too, which is probably the best thing for both parties right now.

We also saw a rare swap deal this week, with Brennan Johnson going to Everton and Dwight McNeil arriving at Crystal Palace. I must say, it was crazy for Palace to lose Johnson. I haven't spoken to anyone at Palace about it—I think I might do that very soon—but I don't get it, because Palace paid big money for Johnson. He was on massive wages though, so that may have come into their thinking.

It hasn't really worked out for him there so far, and the new manager's probably seen him in pre-season and thought, ‘It's not going to work for me.’ They've obviously strengthened too, with the signing of Evann Guessand on loan from Aston Villa, and they're looking at other players in that area as well. I know they also tried to go for Dwight McNeil previously, but the deal fell through at the last hour. McNeil's wages are probably lower than Johnson’s, so that’s the biggest benefit to Palace in the deal.

Looking at the football matches coming up, we’ve got the Community Shield taking place this Sunday. I was at the match last year when Palace beat Liverpool on penalties, and you could see that neither team were treating the game like a friendly. I realise that nobody wants to get injured a week before the start of the Premier League season, but it’s the opportunity to get another trophy in the cabinet. Both Arsenal and Man City will be going for it, and it should be an entertaining game. So I totally agree with what Viktor Gyökeres said when he dismissed the match as a friendly. It's all about winning now, and that can only breed confidence going into the new season.

This is also the opening weekend of the EFL season, and it’ll be interesting to see if West Ham can hit the ground running in a battle of the relegated Premier League teams against Burnley on Sunday. A lot of eyes will also be on Lincoln City after winning promotion, and they’ve got a very tough start away at Middlesbrough, who have spent a fair bit of money in the transfer window.

Sheffield United are also up against my old team Birmingham City–can they get in the promotion mix this season? A lot of money is being spent in the division, and the play-offs now go down to the team which finishes eighth.

A team that I feel could do well this season is Norwich City. I think they've got a good manager in Philippe Clement, with some good, exciting players, and quite a few internationals. They could be a force in the division this season.

Manchester United have been punching beneath their weight for some time. Ruben Amorim might not have been the most disappointing head coach appointment, just the man in the plush racing seat when the music stopped on the Red Devils’ aura.

Amorim was in the Man United job altogether too long but ultimately left them in a salvageable position last season. After a couple of matches under caretaker head coach Darren Fletcher, the club turned again to former midfielder Michael Carrick.

The brief for the interim head coach was clear enough: Get results with a team that previously couldn’t even count as high as the sum of its parts, never mind perform beyond them.

How it all went right for Michael Carrick at Manchester United

Carrick’s interim spell was a success. Finishing third in the Premier League and returning to the Champions League after a season that totalled a meagre 40 matches was an admirable achievement, albeit the influence of Bruno Fernandes simply cannot be ignored.

The outer-layer assumption is that Carrick was able to unlock United’s capabilities by engendering a sense of simplicity and freedom, most notably by doing away with a formation Amorim was smitten with but which plainly wasn’t working.

There’s some merit to that simplistic analysis.

Very good players can perform or not on their own but they can also be held back by their environment and, for very many reasons that don’t all apply in Amorim’s case, by a head coach that doesn’t suit, motivate or maximise them.

Relieving that internal pressure on a presentable playing staff by simplifying things and switching to a back four might sound obvious but isn’t just basic stuff that any incoming gaffer could have translated into results.

Carrick didn’t stroll back into Carrington in January, tell his players that back threes are for dorks and immediately defeat Manchester City by just going out there and enjoying themselves. It was an actively smart move on his part to see what he had and understand how to unleash it.

It earned United the desired outcome and got him the job on a permanent basis. With third place and a Champions League spot in the bag, he was the obvious choice.

The audition is over and it’s time to play the part

What happens now is for real and it’s Carrick’s to own. ‘Interim’ is gone. There’s no bounce, no release from loathed methods of old. The only yardstick is the same one against which all United managers are evaluated and that’s an entirely different challenge.

The power of ‘getting it’ typically doesn’t carry from one season to the next. There’s a big difference between getting it and doing it. Doing it is now the task at hand.

There are reasons to be optimistic. Carrick himself is one of them; it would be unreasonable to discount the very tangible success of last season, and it bodes well.

After all, the former United midfielder hasn’t betrayed any reason to doubt him. His team’s recovery in the second half of 2025-26 amounted to just two losses and three draws in 17 matches and included wins over City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, all of whom finished in the top five with them.

United have brought in some top-quality players in the transfer windows both this summer and last.

Senne Lammens, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko are all major contributors, and the same will be expected of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos even if supporters hope for more additions. Even prodigal son Marcus Rashford could be in line to play his part.

For Carrick, the bar is high. Qualifying for the Champions League is the baseline for United, not a target, and even that would be deemed by some supporters as falling short of expectations.

The likes of United, Liverpool and Villa can also expect to face more significant opposition from big-spending Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, neither of whom can afford another season like the last and are doing everything in their power to make sure it doesn’t happen.

We’ll find out in the early part of 2026-27 whether United are set up for success. This time last year, with plenty of money spent in the summer but holes in the team and a head coach who steadfastly stuck with methods that seemed to do more damage than just not working, they were doomed to fail

Carrick is the face of what United supporters hope will be a different experience, with players performing to their abilities and operating as a team capable of re-planting the United flag.

His first match of the new season takes United to promoted Hull City. The second is at home against Ipswich Town. The expectation will be that they win both. It’s a familiar standard that Carrick is going to have to embrace.

Kyle Walker to Burnley. Rio Ferdinand to Queens Park Rangers. We don't need to give you any more examples. We know you know the meme: slideshows of Euro 2020's biggest stars in big old 2026, donning their new club's Castore kits, smiles on their faces but the glint all but extinguished from their eyes.

Mohamed Salah in a Trabzonpor shirt felt the most jarring this summer, let's be honest – a little bit like stroking a dog backwards. He still, surely, had something to give at the very top level. FourFourTwo's Kedar Bayley was just as confused, calling it “farcical and rage-inducing” that after claiming he still wanted to compete, Salah at wound up in Istanbul and not even at one of the city's bigger clubs.

Leroy Sane's left turn to Galatasaray at the age of 29 was a strange one to digest, too: sad, really, that he was leaving Europe's top five leagues just six or seven years after being one of the most exciting young players in English football, but intriguing to see him with Victor Osimhen. Now Dusan Vlahovic – once compared to Erling Haaland – is off to Besiktas to play alongside Leandro Trossard, arguably the Premier League champions' best attacker last season. Lesley Ugochukwu, Wilfried Singo, Marco Asensio and Nathan Ake, surely, are all good enough for Europe's top five leagues, aren't they?

It's not quite as simple as to call this a retirement league. Granted, a few of these players have turned 30 – but even the most cynical online troll wouldn't tar them all them with the “washed” brush. More and more talent is turning to Turkish shores, and not just for dental or follicular reasons. The Super Lig has seemingly replaced the Saudi Pro League as the go-to destination for a very particular transfer in football: the high-wage, late-20s-to-early-30s talent who Serie A can't afford.

To put it into context, N'Golo Kante moved from Saudi to Fenerbahce this summer. The beloved box-to-boxer was one of the Pro League's jewels when it started its influx a few years ago, with Sadio Mane, Karim Benzema, Ruben Neves and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo all flocking to the Gulf State. Gabriel Martinelli – another player more than good enough to play at a high level in Europe, and Arsenal's top scorer in cup competitions last season – has consistently been linked with Saudi. Now, he's linked with Galatasaray.

It used to be that if you moved to Saudi Arabia, everyone assumed you were doing it for the money – but it was OK, because you could talk about the ambition of the league and the end-goal, to make Saudi football-mad (something that almost certainly won't happen until after 2034, when they've hosted the World Cup and you've long-retired, collected your pay package and sodded off to start Atletico Boise in the MLS).

Whereas if you moved to the Super Lig in the last five to 10 years, the perception was different. It was assumed it was because you weren't quite wanted in Saudi for whatever reason, but you perhaps wanted the comfort and salary that comes with the league. See Osimhen's ugly Napoli break-up. See Jhon Duran and whatever on earth happened there.

Things have changed. The Pro League's marquee summer signing, at the time of writing, is Crysensio Summerville. A good player, of course: while Turkish teams continue to be linked with top-level talent, including wonderkids Ethan Nwaneri and Rodrigo Mora. It's quite the turn of events.

Critics have been quick to point to a bubble bursting in Saudi. That feels rather simplistic, however: it was always going to be unsustainable to sign another Ronaldo, Benzema or Kante every season until the Pro League eclipsed Europe's top five leagues. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) has pulled back on several global sports initiatives as they refocus on domestic Saudi projects – including a reported retrenchment from financing LIV Golf – while Newcastle United fans have been left wondering just how much of a priority the Toon are among the nation's ambitions. As friend of FourFourTwo Adam Clery recently alluded to on The Overlap Fan Debate, however, perhaps Saudi Arabia simply wanted a seat at the table in European football. Solange and not Beyonce; to compete in, not to conquer, the beautiful game.

Turkiye offers a few things that Saudi can't, though. They're not building a top league from the very foundations.

While the Turkish national team only returned to the World Cup for the first time in 24 years over the summer, the country is far more established in the game. They've consistently produced talent over the past three decades and currently have two of the more exciting youngsters in Europe, in Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz.

There's an established hierarchy and clear identity, too. Gala and Fener are renowned rivalries, Besiktas regulars at the very top of the sport, too. Trabzonspor and Istanbul Basaksehir are intent on upsetting the status quo – so it's not a one-team league or duopoly, where if you're not playing for the elite side in the division, you're a no one.

And there's a football culture there that Saudi Arabia haven't yet fostered: picture Turkish football and you'll envision the cliches of tifos referencing the underworld, flares and so much smoke you can barely see the names on shirts. There may well be Al-Nassr diehards who very grateful to CR7 for putting their club on the map and winning the league title – but if you do well in the Super Lig, you're essentially a god.

Yet all of this misses the obvious answer – the one good reason for Turkish football to be a little more set up for a Salah or a Mane than Saudi ever was – which became very clear when Galatasaray beat Liverpool almost a year ago with the likes of Sane, Osimhen and Singo in tow, while Lucas Torreira, Ilkay Gundogan and Mario Lemina made up a midfield that 2019 would have been proud of. There's the allure of the European football.

No Turkish side has progressed past the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Just as we all wondered whether the Saudi Pro League would start genuinely competing for European eyeballs, it's always a tentative statement to claim, “hey things could genuinely change,” just because these clubs can afford Romelu Lukaku and Vlahovic. But we could have two Super Lig sides among the elite: Galatasaray are in Pot 3 for the Champions League, with Fenerbahce up against Lyon in the qualifiers – and with just eight teams of 36 out in the league phase, European knockouts have never been more attainable.

Galatasaray's 2000 UEFA Cup win, meanwhile, remains the blueprint for all modern Turkish clubs. Salah's Trabzonspor and Trossard's Besiktas are in the Europa League qualifiers, with Basaksehir in the Conference League – knowing that the final of that particular competition is in Istanbul next year. UEFA tournaments are more competitive than ever, now that Sevilla don't drop into the Europa League and sweep up. With the greatest of respect to them, West Ham United and Crystal Palace have won European trophies in recent seasons: there's no reason a Turkish team can't go deep into those competitions.

None of this is new. Roberto Carlos and Guti were early purveyors of the league, before Wesley Sneijder, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka moved to Istanbul; Robin Van Persie and Mesut Ozil had stints, too. Leagues aren't necessarily bubbles, but balloons, inflating with talent before the inevitable sigh, when big players leave and bigger players don't replace them. Hate to tell you, but the Premier League won't be king forever, and one day we'll be having tricky conversations about where all the good players went.

Turkish football isn't suddenly set to rival English football but there's enough behind it to suggest that it's sustainable enough for the talent it's attracting. Maybe it's time to start seeing it as a viable destination for players with plenty of ambition left in the tank, after all.

For the first time in 20 years, the Community Shield is taking place outside England.

Arsenal and Manchester City will contest the domestic football season’s curtain-raiser at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 16 August owing to a change in its recent traditions. Since its 2007 reopening, the Community Shield has been held almost exclusively at Wembley with the showpiece previously only relocated twice by scheduling conflicts around the 2012 Olympics and Women’s Euro final in 2022.

This time, however, it was music – not football – that led to the meeting between the Premier League champions and FA Cup holders being switched from its London home. A five-night run of The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ stadium tour means supporters from north and south of the country will instead converge on the Welsh capital rather than Wembley, which is a blessing in disguise as much as it is a novelty.

Community Shield relocation should start Wembley debate

Between 2001 and 2007, Cardiff was the de facto home of English football as it welcomed 44 showpiece occasions, from the FA Cup final to the EFL play-offs, as Wembley’s Twin Towers were dismantled and replaced. It was something of a quid pro quo arrangement after Wales’s rugby union team staged a Test match with New Zealand at Wembley in 1997 while Cardiff Arms Park underwent a transformation into what many would come to know, and love, as the Millennium Stadium.

St Mary Street became the new Olympic Way, only better. A ground located in the heart of a major city with all the amenities that any visiting fan could want, available within touching distance, offered the best of both worlds. It helped that the venue itself witnessed some iconic moments, such as Steven Gerrard’s piledriver in the 2006 FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham or Andy Campbell’s extra-time chip that sealed hometown glory for Cardiff City in the old Second Division Play-Off final in 2003. Returning to those familiar comforts, even fleetingly, only serves to highlight the ongoing disconnect that exists between club supporters and their national stadium.

A day out at Wembley should be the pinnacle of any team's season. The reality is that a trip to the supposed ‘Home of Football’ is one of joyless endeavour. Supporters face limited choices both beneath and bordering The Arch, not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting there in the first place. Prestige fixtures invariably coincide with some form of scheduled disruption, be it maintenance work or strike action, on the West Coast Mainline as well as the M6 motorway; making the journey an arduous task for rail and road users alike. Beyond travel turmoil, the attraction of a jaunt to the capital has worn increasingly thin. The Football Association’s insistence on hosting both legs of the FA Cup semi-final has relegated a one-time pilgrimage into a financial rigmarole with the need to fund two return journeys in the space of six weeks.

It’s little wonder that City fans were unable to pack out their allocation for April’s last-four win over Southampton – their 23rd appearance at Wembley in 10 seasons. Followers of Enzo Maresca’s side are no strangers to playing competitive fixtures in unfamiliar settings. Their team contested the 2012 Shield at Villa Park as well as facing Liverpool a decade later at Leicester’s King Power Stadium. In 2008, they also trekked to Barnsley for a ‘home’ game after their UEFA Cup qualifier with EB Streymur was held at Oakwell while the Etihad Stadium’s pitch was re-laid due to a Bon Jovi concert. Rival supporters widely ridiculed the large swathes of empty seats in their end against the Saints, but unprecedented success offers no insulation from a cost-of-living crisis.

Wembley excursions were reluctantly accepted by supporters of all denominations as the price they had to pay for The FA’s construction costs from the stadium’s £789m refit. Yet the past 18 months have effectively been pure profit for the regulatory body, which settled its debts in the final quarter of 2024. Any obligation to continue forcing the game’s lifeblood to service it has long been removed, and a serious debate now needs to be had about why it is still considered the default venue for non-finals when its appeal has long dwindled. Prior to 1974, the Community Shield was never even held there; played at no fewer than 10 club grounds that marked a who’s who of English football heritage. In 1966, an all-Merseyside meeting between Liverpool and Everton saw fans treated to a rare glimpse of the newly won World Cup as it was paraded at Goodison Park before kick-off by Roger Hunt and Ray Wilson, two of England’s heroes that were preparing to line up against each other that afternoon.

Club grounds again hosting the season's opener remains highly attainable with Old Trafford, St James’ Park, Elland Road and Villa Park all set to either undergo significant rebuilds or be replaced with future-proofed successors that would make them fitting alternative venues. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium are also worthy contenders with Euro 2028 and a likely Women’s World Cup in 2035 already on their respective agendas. So, too, is the stage for Sunday’s encounter, which takes place at the first venue to host a Champions League final ‘indoors’ after its roof was closed for the 2017 occasion. But why stop there?

FA Cup semi-finals could conceivably also be played away from Wembley’s former white elephant again, as they were as recently as 2006, while the opportunity to take England back out on the road has the potential to enhance the national team’s relationship with those who follow their fortunes from beyond the confines of the M25. Nottingham Forest’s City Ground most recently enjoyed the Three Lions’ company for an end-of-season friendly with Senegal last summer that made Thomas Tuchel’s side accessible to more than simply those covered by the jurisdiction of an Oyster card.

At a time when Andy Burnham is seeking to ‘rewire’ the wider UK’s relationship with its London-centric government, the new prime minister would doubtless approve of sparing football supporters the hassle of multiple trips south of Watford Junction. The staunch Evertonian, who recently pleaded with his beloved club to sign a right-back, is particularly well-versed on that commute after multiple visits in the past two decades.

Removing the hassle of needlessly venturing to a stadium whose commercial growth now outstrips its original stock in trade would be a win-win situation for all parties. Life exists beyond Wembley for major football events, as this weekend in Cardiff proves. It's time The FA moved with a changing landscape and embraced the idea of devolution.