Van Persie is on the brink of transferring to Manchester
Cathal Groome
Staff Writer
It’s time again already: the Premier League is upon us again after a summer full of distractions. The return of arguably the most exciting European league has a lot to live up to after last season’s trials and tribulations, which culminated with that breathtaking last day, when a Sergio Aguero injury time goal snatched the title from United’s fingers. The summer has brought much change to the league with some eye-catching signings.
One of the major surprises, however, has been the lack of business that Manchester City have done. Jack Rodwell has been the sole purchase and this could hardly be described as inspiring. Brian Marwood, the City Director of Football, has been charged with attempting to balance the books in an effort to match the Financial Fair Play rules. Failure to adhere to these rules would result in disqualification from the Champions League. Players on high wages, such as Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, have proved difficult to shed, therefore limiting City’s transfer ambitions. They risk losing the advantage that they had last season due to their lack of motility in the market. Crosstown rivals Manchester United have therefore put themselves in a good position with the purchase of Shinji Kagawa from German Champions Borussia Dortmund. His signing may finally give the United midfield the spark that it has been missing as the creative Kagawa can play in central midfield as well as on the left. Other than this however United have only brought in Chris Powell from Crewe and he is certainly a signing for the future. While writing this, however United are in the process of signing Robin van Persie from Arsenal for £24 million; a huge sum for an injury prone 29 year old but if he performs like last season he may help to prove the difference between the Manchester clubs.
This brings us neatly to Arsenal who have been unusually busy this summer in adding Olivier Giroud from French champions Montpellier and Lukas Podolski from Koln up front. It would appear that these signings were made to cover for the departure of van Persie. It remains to be seen if Giroud will perform or whether he turns out to be another Maroune Chamakh, but his scoring rate in France was far superior than Chamakh’s which offers hope to Gunners fans. In addition if Podolski replicates his German scoring rate then he will be a great signing. The persistent problem about his career club form may yet rear its head. The most eye-catching of all is the signing of Santi Cazorla from cash-strapped Malaga for £16 million. Cazorla is another small Spanish midfielder in a similar ilk to David Silva, and considering he has 40 odd caps for his country, in a position that they are not light on talent speaks for his ability. However with the apparent loss of Robin van Persie to United it seems that it will be another season of trying to maintain a top four position for Arsenal but at least replacements have been purchased early as opposed to last season.
Chelsea have probably been most active with some stand out purchases. The signing of the supremely talented Eden Hazard ahead of the two Manchester clubs has to be considered a coup irrespective of their Champions league win. The purchase of Marko Marin from Werder Bremen and Oscar from Internacional also point to a change in tact in so far as they are purchasing young talent, even if it is still a costly exercise. However these signings will struggle to hit the ground running especially Oscar who arrives from the pedestrian Brazilian league in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League. They could still do with a striker along with a right back but yet they are reportedly close to the signing of Victor Moses from Wigan, a signing which truly defies any sort of logic for all concerned. Nevertheless if the signings prove successful then Chelsea will certainly challenge for silverware.
This leaves Tottenham and Liverpool who have designs on breaking into the top four but if this is to happen then they both have a lot to do. Tottenham have bought Jan Vertonghen to replace the retired Ledley King, and Gylfi Sigurdsson to add some creativity. However, Spurs are desperately in need of a striker as currently the only striker that they have with Premier League experience is Jermaine Defoe and he would not suit the formation of new manager Andre Villas Boas; AVB typically prefers to play one up front. In addition to this the transfer saga with Luka Modric is overshadowing their preseason and Tottenham should probably cash in on their asset rather than let him rot on the bench paying his wages.
Liverpool have had a confusing preseason. New manager Brendan Rogers began by saying that he would not overpay for players and that Liverpool would have to be more frugal with their money. This was followed only last week with the purchase of Joe Allen, a player with one season of Premier league football behind him for a mid-table club, for a reported fee of £15 million. The fact that Cazorla cost a similar amount puts the fee paid into perspective. The purchase of Fabio Borini up front will only add extra depth rather than quality as he has never produced a lot of goals in any top league in Europe.
All this could lead to a very tight battle at the top with Chelsea closing the gap on the Manchester clubs. However Tottenham and Liverpool may have drifted back rather than closing the gap and Arsenal should still harbour slight hopes of a potential title push. For the Gunners maintaining Champions League and perhaps a cup success would be fruitful. However with two weeks remaining until the transfer market closes there is a lot of scope for improvement and change among the clubs and no doubt there will be some twists and turns before the deadline.
