Frontline focus for Premier League’s elite

With Premier League season less than a fortnight away, most top clubs have made sure that they get done with an important piece of business: sprucing up the forward line. Manchester City were quick on their feet to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. Liverpool paid a hefty amount to get Darwin Nunez from Benfica. Chelsea and Arsenal have signed ex-City forwards Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus while their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur have roped in Richarlison from Everton.

The only top club that is yet to add to their resources upfront is Manchester United as they are possibly waiting for Cristiano Ronaldo to make up his mind. While new coach Erik ten Hag has said that Ronaldo is at the centre of his plans, the Portuguese international reportedly wants out. How long United are willing to wait for Ronaldo remains to be seen. Last season he left Juventus just before transfer window closed, a blow the Italian giants could never recover from.

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Bedding in

While the giants of English football have locked in their targets, the next step will be to see the new recruits make seamless transition to their playing philosophy and vice-versa.

The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez—since Sergio Aguero’s departure—will have a target man to aim at in form of Haaland.

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Defending champions City, who are looking to become first team since United in 2009 to win hattrick of league titles, were left high and dry last season when the much-publicised Harry Kane’s transfer from Spurs didn’t materialise and a last-minute deal for Ronaldo was hijacked by archrivals United. While they scored 99 goals in the Premier League last season, there was always a feeling that they need a proven forward to get those goals in crunch situation.

This time, they made sure there weren’t any loose strings as they swiftly moved in to sign Haaland—one of the top youngsters in football at the moment besides Kylian Mbappe. That Haaland senior—Alfie—played for City helped them clinch the deal but it also showcased City’s ever-increasing profile to attract top talent to Etihad.

It will also be interesting to see how Haaland fits into Pep Guardiola’s approach where he prefers to have multiple attacking options upfront and a false 9 rather than an out-an-out striker. The 21-year-old Haaland’s arrival may mean Guardiola is ready for change especially in his quest to land that elusive Champions League title. Pundits feel that he was ready for it last season itself when City were furiously chasing Kane.

“His (Haaland’s) numbers are unbelievable, but he has to adapt to our play and of course we are going to adapt (to him)," Guardiola told reporters last week. “With his movement and quality in the box we are going to try to put as much balls as possible in the box to have more chances of scoring goals.”

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Their rivals Liverpool are also excited about how Uruguayan Nunez adapts to Premier League life, replacing Sadio Mane, and how quickly he gels with Mohamed Salah. The 23-year-old gave a glimpse of his abilities during last season’s Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool when he scored in both legs for Benfica and constantly troubled Reds’ defence. In a recent friendly, Nunez scored four.

Nunez didn’t come cheap though. With add-ons, Liverpool may end up paying £85 million to Benfica. “When you want to sign a striker as exciting as Darwin is, it’s the market and you have to pay the price,” said Klopp, quite a shift from his stand of not wanting to spend £100 million on a single player a few years ago.

Rebuilding in London

While City and Liverpool are shaping up to fight out for the title this season as well, over in London, Chelsea and Arsenal are going through a rebuilding phase.

The Roman Abramovich era has ended at Stamford Bridge but one thing that hasn’t changed is their ability to compete in the transfer market. While Romelu Lukaku has been shipped out on loan to Inter Milan after a below-par season, manager Thomas Tuchel has managed to bring in Sterling for £47.5 million from City. Not a straight replacement for Lukaku but the England international has shown over the years that he is not shy of getting on the scoresheet. He scored 131 goals in 337 appearances for City.

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While Chelsea were briefly linked to Neymar as well, Tuchel seems to have settled for the same strategy as the most top clubs have over the years—that of using multiple options upfront. If Chelsea don’t end up signing another forward, Sterling will play alongside Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Mason Mount in that exciting forward line-up.

Tuchel later revealed that “Sterling was Chelsea’s number one priority”. "I think he's a big improvement to our squad and exactly what we were looking for in terms of age, experience and style of play. We could convince him very quickly. That's the most important thing and then he was convinced he did everything, what was needed to do and we gave our very best to make it happen and he's the perfect fit,” Tuchel has said.

Arsenal have moved away from the Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang-Alexandre Lacazette combo and will look to usher in a new era with former City forward Jesus. Mikel Arteta, who worked with Jesus when he was Guardiola’s assistant at City, speaks highly of the £45 million signing.

“I love these kind of players, they’re streetwise. That’s what we need. He creates chaos and uncertainty and is always on your shoulder, always there to nick the ball. He is a real threat,” said Arteta during Gunners’ pre-season matches in the US.

The 25-year-old Brazilian will lead a young Arsenal forwardline comprising Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith-Rowe that will look to bring back the glory days. Arsenal have the second-youngest squad in the league this season with average age of 24.6.

Their North London rivals Tottenham are pumped up as well. Not only have they managed to keep Kane and Son Heung-min—last season’s Golden Boot winner—they have also added Brazilian Richarlison and if training videos are anything to go by, the trio is turning up the heat.

Spurs’ manager Antonio Conte is confident of the 25-year-old showing his full potential at Tottenham. “In the first half he played like a No. 9 and in the second half he played on the right and then behind the striker. I think he can play in all these three positions. He is a player that gives me important positions up front. He's very strong and very good to protect the ball and attack the space,” said Conte last week after pre-season game against K-League XI.

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