News Thread

Manchester United are on the verge of signing one of their rivals' best prospects after Chido Obi-Martin decided to leave Arsenal. The 16-year-old recently confirmed his decision to leave the North London club at the expiry of his schoolboy deal and he’s attracted interest from several European giants.

A theme which has been present in the last few years has very much continued so far in this summer transfer window - Premier League clubs outspending every other division. To date, teams from the Premier League have already spent a combined €1.31 billion on new signings. The next closest league to that figure is Serie A, with their clubs having spent €631.57 million - less than half of the English top-flight.

It’s been an eerily quiet transfer window for Liverpool as they remain the only Premier League team yet to complete a signing this summer. Arne Slot has scrutinised his squad across pre-season after replacing Jürgen Klopp and the Dutch manager has prioritised the arrival of a new No6.  

The new English Premier League season is approaching quickly on the horizon with excitement levels growing on a daily basis. The 2024/25 campaign gets underway this weekend with clubs frantically trying to add new signings to their squad before then. Premier League clubs have already spent over €1 billion this summer with five clubs - Aston Villa, West Ham, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United - surpassing the €100 million mark. 

While football is celebrated across the world for its variety of leagues and competitions, no fan of the modern game would be able to deny that the Premier League is the most popular and richest division in the world. Over the course of the last 10 years, the English top-flight has dominated the transfer market and by extension plucked the very best players from around the world to play for its cash-rich clubs. As such, Premier League clubs have spent a remarkable €20.99 billion on new players in the last 10 seasons, which is almost double the second highest-spending league in Europe, Serie A, which has spent €10.58b in the same period of time. Such is the financial might of the Premier League that the next three top-flights - LaLiga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 - have spent less than the Premier League when we combine their total spending, which stands at €20.86b. So what have English clubs been spending all their money on in that period of time? Let’s find out. 

The long anticipated wait is almost over. This Friday the Premier League returns, as Manchester United take on Fulham at Old Trafford. Clubs have spent the summer working hard getting their squads back up to match fitness in pre-season, while their recruitment teams scramble to get new faces through the door. There are some tasty opening day fixtures, with newly promoted Ipswich taking on Liverpool on Saturday, and Enzo Maresca going up against his old friend Pep Guardiola, as Chelsea host Manchester City.

The English Premier League returned in style this weekend with Joshua Zirkzee netting a late winner for Manchester United against Fulham on Friday night at Old Trafford. There were six fixtures on Saturday with Arne Slot recording a 2-0 win over Ipswich on his Liverpool debut and Arsenal demonstrating their title credentials with a comfortable victory over Wolves.

Ivan Toney is poised to depart Brentford in the next two weeks before the end of the transfer window. The 28-year-old was left out of the Bees’ opening day win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League with Thomas Frank revealing that his departure was inevitable.

Arsenal's season got up and running with a pretty routine 2-0 win against Wolves under the North London sunshine on Saturday. Going back throughout last season, and growing louder this summer, there has been noise for Arsenal to sign a new striker. Many fans and pundits feel the Gunners need to add a clinical no 9 to their ranks in order to be able to wrestle the Premier League title away from Manchester City. Just 24 minutes into their opening game of the season, German Kai Havertz, who had got the nod to start up front ahead of Gabriel Jesus, rose highest to head home Arsenal's opener and offer a reminder of what he can do.

The 2024/25 Premier League season got underway last weekend but the biggest stars in the English top-flight descended on Manchester on Tuesday night to celebrate the previous campaign. The PFA awards are the most prestigious in the country and a plethora of big names showed up including Pep Guardiola, Virgil Van Dijk and Erling Haaland.