Liverpool, City, United, Newcastle: Transfer style

We now have less than a month left of the transfer window and just two weeks until the Premier League season starts.

We now have less than a month left of the transfer window and just two weeks until the Premier League season starts. The transfers are now coming in thick and fast and this week’s teams are all taking advantage of the summer sales by adding quality to their squads before the opening weekend.

 

 

Following his early-exit from the World Cup, striker Luis Suarez wanted to get out of Anfield and he did just that when Barcelona flashed £75m at Liverpool and they let him go. Although he will be a miss to the side this season, they money that they’ve earned from the sale of Suarez should allow them to invest in a side that can continue the excellent form of last season.

 

In the wake of Southampton’s ongoing summer sale, the Merseyside club have picked up England’s Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert for around £29m with the possibility of also adding defender Dejan Lovren in the coming weeks for around £20m.

 

Lallana and Lambert have been instrumental figures in a Southampton side that likes to attack and make the opposing defenders work so bringing them in after the departure of Suarez is a fantastic move for Brendan Rodgers; but now that they have the pressure of playing for such a prestigious club on their shoulders, will they perform to the same high quality? It will certainly be interesting to see. 

 

 

It’s been quite a subdued summer for Manchester City so far, with few signings and even fewer links to potential signings. Could it be that Manuel Pellegrini is content with the Premier League winning side? Possibly so but this may be a ploy that is designed to keep us all guessing as they’re a club who have been known to do last minute deals in the past.

 

From the signings they have made, Willy Caballero has joined from Pellegrini’s former side Malaga for a cool £4.4m and they’ve also brought in former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard on a 6-month loan deal that will expire in January.

 

Although the introduction of these players will be effective, it will be interesting to see if they can keep a hold of Yaya Toure who has shown some discontent towards the club throughout the summer and maybe looking for a way out. Finding a replacement for such a key player will provide them with a lot of pressure that no team needs in the run up to the start of the league. 

 

 

The biggest arrival at Old Trafford in the run up to the new season is Dutch manager Louis van Gaal, who comes with the hope of digging United out a hole that was created by David Moyes in his short and difficult time in charge. Van Gaal has come to Manchester United to bring them back to the glory days that we’ve been so used to seeing for many years.

 

Following a turbulent season, one thing that United really needed to work on was their defence; bringing in a full back was always going to be on their summer list. Cue the arrival of Luke Shaw from Southampton – 19 years old and full of the energy and talent that could spark the Red Devils into life – for a whopping £34m.

 

By anyone’s standards, that is a lot of money and he has a lot of work to do if he is to prove he’s worthy of such a hefty price-tag. 

 

As well as Shaw, United have brought in Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and are reportedly close to signing Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus. This should all be welcome news to Manchester United fans as they look to see a switch in fortunes from the disappointment of last season.

 

 

For the past couple of seasons, Newcastle have been a side who pride themselves on buying cheap, young and foreign players and bringing them into the Premier League to provide them with more experience and although last season there was a lot of criticism for this amid rumours of unrest in the dressing room, it’s a method that has been tried, tested and worked well in the past.

 

They have continued to work with that method this summer with the arrival of Jack Colback on a free transfer from Sunderland, Ajax captain Siem de Jong for roughly £6m as well as Remy Cabella, Emmanuel Riviere, Daryl Janmaat for undisclosed fees that aren’t thought to be bank-breakers. 

 

It’s all well and good bringing new blood into the team but what manager Alan Pardew needs to do this season is make these players work for each other, make them click as a team and get them to produce results as this was part of the problem last season. If he can get each clog in the machine to work, they could be on for a decent season.