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It’s hotting up in the transfer market ahead of the big Premier League kick off next month.
Manchester United have made Romelu Lukaku the league’s most expensive striker, a number of clubs including Arsenal, Bournemouth, Everton, Huddersfield and Liverpool have broken their transfer records and Pep Guardiola hopes he’s finally signed a goalkeeper he likes.
We give each club their report card so far… and assure Spurs fans they will sign somebody before August 31.
Fans can’t complain about Arsene Wenger not getting his chequebook out after his record £52 million spend on Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette.
More still needs to be done but if Thomas Lemar follows from Monaco, it will be a major statement.
Left-back Sead Kolasinac has signed to fill a problem position while doubts remain over the future of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez.
Eddie Howe probably felt last season was a little too close for comfort and has spent heavily on transfer fees and wages, bringing in Premier League experience in the form of Asmir Begovic and Jermain Defoe, and huge potential in £20million Chelsea defender Nathan Ake, a club record fee.
Howe has resisted the temptation to turn Jack Wilshire’s loan move from Arsenal into a permanent deal.
Even the biggest Chris Hughton fans on the south coast will be a little anxious that none of his three signings have any Premier League experience.
Certainly Brighton have been quiet on the transfer front compared to the other league debutants Huddersfield.
Midfielder Pascal Gross from Ingolstadt £5million Australian goalkeeper Matthew Ryan – a club record signing – and Celtic teenager Josh Kerr are all unknown quantities at this level.
Sean Dyche has had a look at the foreign transfer market but stuck with the tried and trusted.
Jonathan Walters from Stoke has a degree in Premier League experience while Leeds United’s Charlie Taylor is a young defender Burnley will hope to develop like Michael Keane and Ben Mee.
Keane’s departure to Everton will hurt them and Dyche may feel he needs more to prevent a relegation fight.
The days of Roman Abramovich being a market leader for big-money signings have long gone.
They allowed Manchester United to get in first for £75million striker Romelu Lukaku and the deal for Roma defender Antonio Rudiger has been financed by the sales of Nathan Ake and Juan Cuadrado, and John Terry getting off the wage bill.
Antonio Conte won’t be happy though Tiemouye Bakayoko’s move from Monaco looks on. Alvaro Morata may join if Diego Costa goes.
Palace chairman Steve Parish has a history of doing late deals rather than over-paying earlier in the window, something that may concern new manager Frank de Boer who is due to make a loan move for Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek his first move.
Palace smashed their transfer record last summer on Christian Benteke and the club will feel they ought to have enough in the dressing-room already to be competitive. Parish will argue Wilf Zaha committing his future is like a signing.
Everton fans probably can’t believe they are being seen as the stand-out spenders in the Premier League.
The sale of Romelu Lukaku has financed purchases of Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Ajax captain Davy Klaasen and Malaga striker Sandro, and the prodigal son Wayne Rooney has returned on a free.
Even if Ross Barkley leaves, and Everton have a surplus of midfielders, it looks like a cracking window for Ronald Koeman with serious interest also in Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson
Manager David Wagner is no shrinking violet and he’s been extremely proactive in strengthening his squad for Huddersfield’s first season in the top flight.
Nine players have been signed and the transfer record broken three times; for Aaron Mooy, Tom Ince and then £11million Montpellier striker Steve Mounie.
Wagner will stry to persuade best mate Jurgen Klopp to let him keep Liverpool goalkeeper Danny Ward for a further season on loan.
Craig Shakespeare laid his marker down as a new manager by beating off competition from Spurs and Stoke to land the highly-rated central defender Harry Maguire with both Wes Morgan and Robert Huth not getting any younger.
Vicnent Iborra has also arrived from Sevilla after impressing against Leicester in the Champions League while a bid is in for Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho. They won’t let Riyad Mahrez go without a fight.
It’s strange to say for a club that has broken its transfer record on Roma winger Mo Salah, but this has been a frustrating window for manager Jurgen Klopp, most notably because he’d set his sights on Southampton centre-half Virgil van Dijk before the Anfield club withdrew their interest amidst dark mutterings of tapping up.
Nonetheless the signing of young Chelsea striker Dominic Solanke looks inspired as he then went on to star in England under-20s World Cup win.
A mixed bag for Pep Guardiola who started the window with a bang by capturing Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva and Benfica goalkeeper Ederson early.
But since then the ambition to sign four new full-backs including Dani Alves and Kyle Walker have not yet borne fruit while the club are hampered by having a lot of expensive players on the books that Guardiola doesn’t want; Hart, Bony, Mangala, Nasri and Denayer.
Ed Woodward will congratulate himself on getting rid of the Wayne Rooney problem and landing himself with a £75million centre-forward Romelu Lukaku in the process.
But he can still expect Jose Mourinho to be a little grumpy should United not sign a top-class holding midfield player with Eric Dier and Nemanja Matic targets.
£30million defender Victor Lindelof has signed but they can’t find a buyer for Chris Smalling.
Rafa Benitez hasn’t got the spate of new signings he wanted. Newcastle have spent money on only two players, defender Florian Lejeune and winger Christian Atsu, who was on loan last season in any case, and lost out on a number of targets including England under-21 striker Tammy Abraham.
Benitez will now press Mike Ashley to sign Jacob Murphy from Norwich and Fabian Delph from Manchester City, otherwise his first press conference of the season will be very interesting.
Though Polish defender Jan Bednarek is the only signing for Mauricio Pellegrino, the big news from St Mary’s is that they’ve resisted interest in their star asset Virgil van Dijk, determined he will not follow the same path as Lallana, Lambert, Clyne, Lovren and Mane to Liverpool.
Jay Rodriguez has been sold to West Brom but Saints have cover up top with Gabbiadini, Austin and Long.
The Bosman arrival of Darren Fletcher to provide midfield leadership from West Brom was a welcome surprise as Stoke try to offload Glenn Whelan and Gianelli Imbula.
Young left-back Josh Tymon has arrived to put pressure on Erik Pieters but a transfer request from Marko Arnautovic has disrupted Mark Hughes’ plans and they are looking for a centre-half as well.
Tucked away in south Wales, Paul Clement has been able to do some tidy business under the radar, his four signings including Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham on loan and £11million Las Palmas midfielder Roque Mesa.
There is still uncertainty surrounding the future of Gylfi Sigurdsson who is wanted by Everton and Leicester, if he goes expect Swansea to spend again.
Chairman Daniel Levy will argue that keeping Harry Kane and Dele Alli will be his most important transfer business of the window but once again Tottenham’s hard-line stance on negotiations has cost them on incoming players.
They are the only Premier League club not to have added to their squad despite bidding for Harry Maguire and others. If Austrian defender Kevin Wimmer leaves, expect them to move for a centre-half, possibly Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson.
Watford needed an infusion of something after a rotten second half of last season and the owners have done their best, bringing in a fresh, young manager Marco Silva and making four signings.
Interestingly for a club accused of being top-heavy with overseas mercenaries, they have paid £8million for England under-21 international Will Hughes and made Tom Cleverley’s loan a permanent deal. Spanish right-back Kiko Femenia could solve a problem position.
The £15million capture of Jay Rodriguez from Southampton is acknowledgement from Tony Pulis that the team have to score more goals with Salomon Rondon drying up last season.
Losing captain Darren Fletcher to Stoke was a blow hence Pulis’ interest in Everton’s Gareth Barry to provide experience. It’s been estimated that West Brom’s new Chinese owner Guochuan Lai’s wealth is £2.6 billion but hasn’t trickled down to The Hawthorns yet.
Nobody has been linked with more players this summer than West Ham but free signing Pablo Zabaleta is their only tangible arrival so far.
Manager Slaven Bilic wants a winger and centre-forward with attitude and has a £15million bid for Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic on the table.
But Kelechi Iheanacho was deemed too expensive at £25million given The Hammers already have £40million worth of strikers in Andy Carroll and Andre Ayew on the books. They’d sell Robert Snodgrass to raise funds but he wants to stay.
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