By: Omkar Pratapwar
So far this year, things in the Barclays Premier League have not been as predictable as fans would have imagined a couple months ago. Some huge deals were made this summer, and the EPL broke the previous summer transfer window record for most money spent. At the end of last season, it looked as if Arsenal and Chelsea were heading up, Man City and Man U were heading down, and Everton, West Brom, and Tottenham would be losing their young stars. But it seems that this summer, spending truly did improve some teams, while making others look like fools.
Some of this season’s biggest successes so far have been Man U, Man City, Leicester City, Everton and West Ham. Manchester United have looked sharp this season, with the additions of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay, and Sergio Romero. These additions helped counter the heavy losses suffered this summer with Robin van Persie and Nani leaving for Fenerbahce, and Wayne Rooney’s scoring rut. Manchester City did quite nicely this summer, but it came at a cost. Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi, and Kevin de Bruyne costed City over 100 million, but this is money that City can easily afford to spend, and the spending has really paid off this season, with Man City the title favorites. Everton and West Ham are in the same boat, with both teams knocking out some top teams like Man City, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Both teams also made some great additions to their teams, with Everton adding Gerard Deulofeu, Ramiro Funes Mori, Tom Cleverly, and Leandro Rodriguez, and West Ham bringing in Angelo Ogbonna and Dimitri Payet, with Victor Moses and Alex Song coming in on loan. These players are really giving Everton and West Ham a good boost this season. Leicester City made some unheralded moves this offseason with Shinji Okazaki, Christian Fuchs, Gokhan Inler, and Robert Huths. Leicester looked excellent towards the end of last season, and picked up right where they left off by staying undefeated so far this season.
The disappointments for this season are the most unlikely of candidates, as Arsenal, Chelsea, and Stoke City struggle, right out of the gate. Arsenal looked like title candidates after the acquisition of Petr Cech this season, but failed to pick up any other outfield players. They relied too heavily on Cech early in the season, and got beat by West Ham for it. Chelsea have started the season not looking like last season’s champions, but rather of a recently promoted team. Pedro looked like a good buy at first, but now looks a bit unnecessary with the plethora of wingers for Chelsea. Chelsea also made a fool of themselves with the John Stones saga, eventually ending up with Papy Djilobodji. Did you know, Stoke City have more Champions League winners than any other Premier League team? Too bad that Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan, and the rest can’t even reach the Champions League. Stoke now sit in 18th place, and from the looks of it, are probably not going to reach the Europa League, let alone the middle of the EPL table.
Some other smart moves include Yohan Cabaye to Crystal Palace, Jordan Veretout to Aston Villa, Virgil van Dijk to Southampton, and Son Heung-Min to Tottenham. Premier League teams really improved their rosters this year, and some helped themselves by refusing to let go of young stars, such as Everton’s death grip on John Stones, West Brom’s battle to keep Saido Berahino, and Southampton drawing the line on their departures by holding Victor Wanyama.
The Premier League’s blockbuster spending spree summer has impacted the League positively, and the teams are looking a lot stronger. I expect to see some major purchases this winter when the window opens again, and maybe even an underdog team making the top four.
