Summer Transfers and 2017/18 Season Predictions

By Dillan -
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Summer Transfers

With the Premier League kicking off this weekend, there has been a big debate on which team is going to win the league this season. Massive amounts of spending has led to most teams improving their squad and strengthening for the new season. These improvements to squads have made it even harder to predict who will win the league, and even who will finish in the top 4.

Lets start with Arsenal. The Gunners have brought in Sead Kolasinac from Schalke this summer and he already made a great impression when he came on as a sub in the Community Shield. Another addition they made is Alexandre Lacazette from Lyon. The French international has been linked with a move to the Premier League for the last few seasons and he has finally arrived. He is expected to be the first choice striker for Arsenal this season.

Next lets talk about Chelsea. After Manchester United ended their interest in Alvaro Morata with the signing of Lukaku, Chelsea pounced on the opportunity to overspend on a player who was left warming Real Madrid's bench all of last season. Another player they signed was Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco along with Antonio Rudiger from Roma. The most notable transfer business for Chelsea is the players they have let go this summer. The sale of Matic to rivals Manchester United is particularly unusual as he is clearly going to be a big boost for the Red Devils. Other departures include Nathan Ake, Juan Cuadrado, Begovic, Terry, Traore, Chalobah and Solanke. Furthermore, Conte told Diego Costa that he was not in his plans for this season so that will be a big blow for the blues.

The most active team this summer in the transfer market has arguably been Everton. The Toffees have been spending like there's no tomorrow this summer. Their most expensive signing has been Jordan Pickford from Sunderland for a record fee of £30 million for the club. Other additions include Michael Keane from Burnley, Davy Klaassen from Ajax and of course Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. They have also been busy selling players, with Romelu Lukaku joining Manchester United for £75 million, Deulofeu to Barcelona and Cleverley to Watford. It is clear from this transfer business that Everton will be hoping to go far in the Europa League this season and improve on their final position in the Premier League.

On the other side of Merseyside, Liverpool have been much less active. Bringing in only Salah (who is a good addition to their already terrifying attack), Robertson and Solanke, Liverpool are yet to improve on their below par defence and central midfield. With some time left in the transfer window, they will be looking to improve their squad in those positions. They have been linked with Virgil van Dijk (who has just handed in his official transfer request) through the whole summer, but there looks like there will be some fierce competition from Chelsea in securing his signature. Another problem Liverpool might have to deal with is losing their best player, Coutinho to Barcelona after PSG signed Neymar. The deal is looking more and more likely.

The highest spenders in the league this season have been Manchester City. Pep Guardiola has now spent more money on his defence in the year he has been at Man City than Bosnia spent on theirs (the country's army). Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Ederson and Danilo should prove to be great additions to City. Many football pundits have dubbed City to lift the Premier League trophy at the end of the season and that does seem likely. They will surely be very tough to beat and their frightening attack will be hard to stop. However, you never know what could happen in the Premier League...

The biggest team in Manchester have made three new signings to strengthen their squad. Manchester United have signed Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof so far. With four positions all needed to be strengthened, Mourinho has managed to improve three of them with the fourth still looking to be on the cards as United are being closely linked to Danny Rose and Serge Aurier. Jose seems to be content with the players currently at the club as he only let Rooney and Januzaj leave this summer.

The biggest failures in terms of transfers this summer has been Tottenham Hotspur. The London club who looked so strong last season really needed to focus on keeping their players at the clubs and improving their squad depth to account for Champions League football next season. Spurs have signed nobody this summer and have let one of their key players, Kyle Walker leave to a title rival. There is no doubt in my mind that they will suffer this season and fall significantly lower down the table.

Season Predictions

As a Manchester Unite fan, of course I would like to see the trophy be lifted by Mourinho and his men so I left it down to our readers to give their predictions. Although, I don't think I'm getting much of a wide range of fans as most of our readers are Manchester United fans.




My personal favourite prediction came from Oliver. Although this isn't the most likely outcome, I think all United fans can agree that this is the dream.



Michael Carney believes that Chelsea still have what it takes to retain the league title even though they will be fighting in Europe. Also, he is an Everton fan and believes that due to Everton's signings they will still manage to get goals, which is fair enough. Although it may be slightly harder without Lukaku.



My friend Payet Forward has faith that United will do what it takes this season and lift the trophy for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson left. Let's hope that he's right!



Matthew Hulls who is a Leyton Orient fan has a similar stance to Payet Forward, with the two Manchester clubs battling it out for the top spot. What's interesting is that he believes Conte will be gone by January which is not unrealistic. There has been lots of complaints by fans about Conte's transfers this summer, most notably his decision to let Diego Costa go and downgrade to Morata.



Finally, my predictions for the top 4 are:
1st - Manchester United
2nd - Manchester City
3rd - Liverpool
4th - Arsenal

Let's hope that this season is as exciting as last season and most importantly, United to win the league of course!

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