Who Needs Who

Manchester City’s squad looked vastly superior to any of their rivals last season; a solid defensive unit was epitomised by captain Vincent Kompany, finesse in midfield with David Silva pulling the strings and goal machine Sergio Aguero, 23 league goals in his debut season.  Add to that the power of Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli’s potential to be brilliant it was no surprise to see City lifting the trophy aloft in May.

Of course it takes a mega rich owner’s investment to be able to boast such a squad, only Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich can come close to the spending capabilities of Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour.

After finally capturing the Champions League Abramovich is likely to spend big again in an attempt to keep the trophy firmly in his grasp. Salomon Kalou and Didier Drigba made their last Chelsea appearances in Munich leaving Fernando Torres as the only experienced striker. It is clear the policy for at Stamford Bridge is youth and experience; Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne, both creative wingers, are set to join the ‘Old Guard’.

The Board at Chelsea will be seeking to appoint a permanent manager before making any more signings. A disappointing 6^th placed finish was overshadowed by Champions League victory and a ticket to the group stage.

Tottenham fans will have been pulling their hair out after Chelsea won the Champions League and dumped Spurs in to the Europa League.

At Christmas there were signs of a title challenge; Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Emmanuel Adebayor and Rafael Van Der Vaart led the charge with scintillating form. Fabio Capello’s resignation as England manager coincided with a terrible run of results while Harry Redknapp was permanently linked with the vacancy.

 Spurs clearly need more strength in depth, the small squad faltered towards the end of the season. Redknapp will find it hard to attract top names and keep of hold of prize assets too with only Europe’s secondary competition to offer.

It’s the same old story for Arsenal, no trophy, but would Gunners fans swap Champions League football for the Carling Cup? A campaign that started catastrophically was rescued singlehandedly by Robin Van Persie’s 30 league goals.

Just like last summer and the summer before Arsene Wenger needs a reliable, injury free central defender, some muscle in midfield and a partner for Van Persie.

Lukas Podolski may provide the goals to take some of the weight off RVP’s shoulders. At 26 and a fee believed to be around £10 million the Germany international offers youth, experience and most favourable to Wenger isn’t a bank breaker.

The new faces that arrive could prove to be less important than the old ones that choose to stay if Van Persie puts pen to paper on a new deal. Arsene Wenger will need to convince his Dutch goal machine trophies will be on their way to The Emirates.

Taking a trophy back to Anfield was not enough to keep Kenny Dalglish in a job. A season that saw something like £50 million splashed out on Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson resulted in a disappointing 8^th placed finish behind Everton.

Liverpool have their poor home form to thank, 5 wins in 19 league games, for their lack of European football next season. Consistently solid at the back but lacking creativity in midfield and a goal scorer brought Dalglish’s downfall.

Whoever replaces King Kenny might not have so much money to spend after some dubious purchases, it looks like it will be a case of shrewd investments at Anfield.

Transfer operations over at Old Trafford look like being of a similar nature, The Glazier Family have never broken the bank to fund transfers and look like doing the same this summer. The transfer policy at United for now is buy young talent not at premium prices; Phil Jones and Chris Smalling etc.

Fergie’s men can only blame themselves for their capitulation in the final few weeks of the season. Having chased down an 8 point gap and opened up an 8 point lead of their own they seemed to be cruising to title number 20 until a stumbling finish saw Manchester City steal the title in the final minutes of the season.

There was a lack of creativity in the Manchester United midfield, January saw Paul Scholes was forced out of the retirement but his return only papered over the cracks. Midfield wasn’t the only issue, injuries in the centre of defence and no stability at right back meant United conceded with unusual regularity.

Sir Alex needs a decent transfer kitty if he is to make the necessary improvements to wrestle the Premier League title back from the ‘noisy neighbours’.

Mancini’s men rode their luck throughout the course of the season but were deserving of their victory having been the best team in the league for long stretches of the season. With a squad worth hundreds of millions it’s a struggle to see where Mancini can improve but there will definitely be transfer activity at the Etihad this summer. The revolution is ongoing but a buy to sell policy may be in place after recent investments by the owners. Next stop for Manchester City will be European success, maybe not next season but sometime soon.

Sam Jewell

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