Duncan White/Telegraph
"...
Swansea and Norwich have shown you do not have to be wealthy to be ready. Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert have both added significantly to their promoted squads and their prospects of survival are stronger than those of Queens Park Rangers while the future ownership of that club is unresolved..."
Duncan White/Telegraph
Duncan White's Premier League 2011-12 preview: Early spenders get crucial head start in tight title race
The Premier League kicks off next weekend and not a day too soon for the football fan coming out of summer hibernation.
Premier League: season previewYet for some managers it is all coming too quickly. While a few look on their productive summer’s work like smug boy scouts, the rest are still stuck with players they no longer want, waiting by the fax machine (surely not still?) for answers to increasingly desperate bids for players they do. How you start your season can define its entire course, and with a week to go, it is clear which clubs have put themselves in the best position to come out of the blocks quickest.
The three-week lag between the beginning of the Premier League season and the close of the transfer window gives every manager a problem. Do you get on the front foot and recruit early and risk paying more for players than you might do if you had left it until the last few days of August? Or do you leave it late, until the desperation of selling clubs gives you a better deal?
The price of being proactive may well be one worth paying. Just look at Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson knew his squad needed restructuring and rejuvenating with Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes retiring.
That United moved quickly to sign Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David de Gea sent out a decisive message to the rest of the squad — and the league. Ferguson and Manchester United looked like they knew what they were doing. The players themselves then had time to adapt to their new team-mates, learn about the team’s tactical approach and get in some pre-season work with the fitness staff. There is a sense of psychological readiness, a feel-good factor suffusing the club.
Ferguson wants United to begin the season when it begins, not when the transfer window shuts. There are nine points available before then and with Ferguson claiming 84 points will win it you can be more than 10 per cent of the way there before the buying has stopped
The margins at the top are fine. While United won with a comfortable cushion of nine points last season the difference between first and second was a point in 2009-10, four in 2008-09 and two in 2007-08. If you slip at the start it can resonate through your whole season, always playing catch-up.
In many ways Liverpool have been as proactive as United. While they are anxious to sell a significant number of players, that has not inhibited their recruitment of Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson. Whether or not you believe Kenny Dalglish has bought the right men, he has got them early. More are expected to arrive and leave but the lion’s share has been done.
Manchester City are also in pretty good shape. They did not let Carlos Tévez’s desire to leave determine their transfer policy. They wanted a new world-class forward whether or not Tévez was sold. They were beaten to Alexis Sánchez by Barcelona but simply got on with recruiting Sergio Agüero.
The brisk business of the north-west is in contrast to the stasis in North London. Both Arsenal and Tottenham cannot be happy with where they are a week before the season kicks off.
Where many of their rivals have gone on the front foot, Arsenal have been made to look reactive and defensive. The problem is that they are being dictated to by Barcelona — and it is not pretty to watch.
Barcelona know they have no rivals for Cesc Fabregas and that there is no real urgency to sign him as they are hardly short of central midfielders. If he joins up with them on Sep 1, then so be it.
Arsenal, though, cannot afford to leave it that late. No wonder Arsène Wenger wants a deal done, or shelved, imminently. The frustration for supporters is that with maybe as few as three high quality signings, they could be serious title challengers, especially as Aaron Ramsey and Thomas Vermaelen are back fit.
Where Arsenal have shown strength is in retaining Samir Nasri, even though he is refusing to extend his contract, which expires next summer. Spurs have been similarly intransigent when it comes to Luka Modric’s desire to leave for Chelsea, although they at least have the protection of a longer contract.
Keeping Modric is essential, not just because he is such an important player but because it is also evidence of Tottenham’s ambition. Yet it will need more than just keeping what they have.
Harry Redknapp was insistent that if the club is to return to the Champions League, investment is needed. So far, in terms of first-team candidates, he has signed just Brad Friedel. The chairman, Daniel Levy, is uncompromising. He wants players such as Jermaine Jenas, Robbie Keane, Wilson Palacios and Alan Hutton sold before new signings arrive.
Both Arsenal and Spurs are very well run financially and you cannot fault them for wanting to get the best out of any deals. The problem comes when a failure to get the business done has an impact on the field. Saving a couple of million in August will look like a false economy if the consequence is missing out on the £30 million Champions League money in May. Competition for qualification has never been tighter: six into four just does not go.
Andre Villas-Boas knows the Champions League is all that matters to his new employer. He has appeared happy with the Chelsea squad he inherited, including the two lavish January purchases of Fernando Torres and David Luiz. A creative player is desired — Modric is still first choice — but not desperately needed.
It would be a huge surprise if that sextet did not occupy the top six spots come the end of the season. Everton have an excellent manager in David Moyes and a lot of talent but no money to make themselves stronger while Aston Villa have lost their two best creative players, Downing and Young, and their new manager, Alex McLeish, will be looking for stability before anything else.
Like United and Liverpool, Sunderland have been impressive in how decisively they have gone about signing nine new players.
Steve Bruce evidently felt his side required radical reorganising and he is fortunate to have an owner who let him reinvest the money received for selling Henderson and Darren Bent. The flip side is that Bruce knows he must now deliver.
Oh for that clarity of purpose on Tyneside. Newcastle’s preparations have been shabby, with a poorly organised pre-season tour and a failure to invest money recouped from the sale of Andy Carroll in January. Kevin Nolan has been sold while Joey Barton and Jose Enrique will follow. The only sale that would truly cheer the fans is that of the whole club.
Blackburn have similarly discontented supporters, exasperated by the failure of Venky’s to deliver on even their most modest promises.
Stoke have found the market a frustration but have a solid enough squad not to get too worried while the likes of Bolton and West Bromwich Albion have invested
well. Wolves have gone for quality over quantity and Fulham have sought to inject some youth into their veteran squad. Wigan’s best signing was getting manager Roberto Martinez on a new deal — but, with Charles N’Zogbia gone, their squad is weaker than last year.
Swansea and Norwich have shown you do not have to be wealthy to be ready. Brendan Rodgers and Paul Lambert have both added significantly to their promoted squads and their prospects of survival are stronger than those of Queens Park Rangers while the future ownership of that club is unresolved.
The next three weeks will generate a rush of trading and there may even be one or two deals that radically alter a team’s expectations. Many managers, though, will be resolving not to leave it this late next summer. You hope they get the chance to make amends.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/8686121/Duncan-Whites-Premier-League-2011-12-preview-Early-spenders-get-crucial-head-start-in-tight-title-race.html
