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Good day to all! Today marks the half-way point in the transfer window (well, more or less), and there’s been a lot going on. Seeing as it’s two weeks today that I last blogged, I thought I’d mark the half-way point by analysing how last season’s top four have done in the transfer market.

Manchester City

The champions have been surprisingly quiet this summer. The only addition to the squad thus far has been the signing of Bacary Sagna on a free transfer after the Frenchman’s contract with Arsenal ran out.

The question is what they are planning. With all the money they have behind them, as well as the fact that they finished only two points ahead of Liverpool, as well as only seven ahead of Arsenal in 4th place, would naturally convince Manuel Pellegrini that there is more work to be done with his squad if he is to retain the title next season, particularly since the others in the top four have been spending big this summer.

Bacary Sagna is an interesting acquisition as City already have Pablo Zabaleta, arguably a better player than Sagna. It seems odd that Sagna would move to a club where he is likely to be stationed on the bench for the most part, but perhaps City were attracted to his versatility (he can play anywhere along the back four) and the depth that his signing offers. However, they need more than just one defender to strengthen a defence that has been suspect at times this season.

Verdict – Still a month to go, and I expect City will do more to splash the cash. They need to if they’re to retain the title.

Liverpool

Liverpool are the big talking point because they’ve been spending a lot of money, but have also sold last season’s star man Luis Suarez after he bit Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

Naturally, replacing Suarez should have been their primary concern. I don’t care what any Liverpool fan will try to tell you; Suarez is the reason they finished in the top four last season. Without him, they’d never have finished anywhere near there.

But the fact is – they haven’t. They’re continuing to add pace to the squad, but haven’t brought in anyone whose quality is anywhere near that of Suarez. Rickie Lambert is a decent signing, but one who is mostly there to add depth and provide a ‘Plan B’, something that anyone who watched Liverpool last season will have noticed that they don’t have. Adam Lallana shone at Southampton but that team was really built around their front three and he seemed to benefit from being one of the best players at a mid-table club. Lazar Markovic is a gamble; he may or may not cut the mustard, but it’s hard to envisage him immediately adapting to English football. Divock Origi will spend the season on loan at Lille, so there’s no point talking about him yet.

They also desperately need strengthening at the back, but have thus far only brought in Dejan Lovren, a player who has played in the Premier League for only one season. He looked good but nothing special at Southampton, although if Brendan Rodgers finally realises that Daniel Agger is his best centre-half, the two could form a good central defensive partnership.

There’s also the full-back issues. Glen Johnson is not good enough to be a top four right back, but there’s not even any considerable back up. Liverpool also need a left back, although at least there they have been pursuing Alberto Moreno.

Verdict – They’re adding the depth they need, but not the quality they need. I understand why they sold Suarez, but they need to replace him or they’ll have a very tough time finishing in the top four again next season. Brendan Rodgers needs to stop talking crap about this, that and the other and get busy, because August is crucial to their season.

Chelsea

There’s not a whole lot to say about Chelsea, other than that they’ve got exactly what they need, and sold the right players to ensure they don’t breach Financial Fair Play.

They needed a creative attacking midfielder and a top quality striker, so before the transfer window even opened, Jose Mourinho bought Cesc Fabregas and more or less wrapped up the deal for Diego Costa. He then brought in Filipe Luis to replace Ashley Cole. Excellent business – that’s just what their starting eleven needed. Club legend Didier Drogba’s return is questionable, but he provides a ‘Plan B’ if nothing else.

On the other side of things, Romelu Lukaku’s transfer to Everton for £28 million was a fine piece of business. Lukaku looks to be a very promising player but isn’t really worth that much right now and it was obvious that he wasn’t falling into Mourinho’s plans.

Verdict – Excellently done. A little more depth never hurts, but they’re looking deadly next season regardless.

Arsenal

Despite the popular opinion of Arsenal being a selling club who only buy cheap alternatives, this summer Arsene Wenger has proved wrong everyone who thought that his £42.5 million acquisition of Mesut Ozil was a one-off panic buy.

The summer started badly though, with the club turning down the opportunity to re-sign Cesc Fabregas (you do NOT turn down a player that good no matter how many attacking midfielders you have!), and instead he’s gone to Chelsea and strengthened a title rival.

But the acquisition of Alexis Sanchez has been an excellent purchase. He adds much-needed pace to the squad, and can play either as a central striker or as a wide forward. Both areas need strengthening in Arsenal’s squad and he fits the bill perfectly.

Arsenal have also gone and replaced two departing members – Bacary Sagna and Lukasz Fabianski – with Mathieu Debuchy (who’s keeping Sagna out of the French National Team at the moment, although given that Mamadou Sakho is somehow stupidly keeping Laurent Koscielny out of the same team leads one to question how well we can read into that) and David Ospina (a better keeper than Fabianski who poses a much bigger challenge to no. 1 Wojciech Szczesny). Both are very good purchases.

They’ve also brought in Southampton’s exciting prospect Calum Chambers (a little on the pricey side – possibly £16m when it comes to add-ons – but goes some way to proving that Wenger will spend what he has to to get what he wants when he has the cash), who can play at both right back and central defence, adding much more depth to a defence that really needs it. It’s also worth noting that they haven’t sold any of their big players so far (touch wood!).

They can’t stop here though. They still need a top quality deep-lying midfielder (links with Sami Khedira suggest they’re after him, but as excellent a signing as he’d be it’s difficult to tell whether he’ll join or not), and could do with one more out-and-out pacey winger. Sanchez alone will not be enough to fire Arsenal to the title, and given the amount of injuries Arsenal suffer from every season (that practically destroyed their promising title fight last season) they’re going to need as much top-quality depth as possible.

Verdict – Very good so far despite making the wrong decision with Fabregas. Don’t stop here, though. A couple more top-quality signings could make all the difference.

Right, that’s it for today. Hopefully there won’t be another two-week gap between this blog and the next one (I’ll try to do one at least once a week, but it’s difficult to think of things to write about in the summer). Until then…

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