How the 'Big Six' Are Approaching the Summer Window
How Arsenal Should Approach Its First Summer With Arteta
Mikel Arteta has an energy and a sense of direction that suggests a plan is in place and has a chance of succeeding. Victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinal represented as good a performance and result in a major game as Arsenal has enjoyed in years.There is a crop of exciting young players who have played at least semi-regularly this season. Bukayo Saka is probably the pick of them, but Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson and William Saliba all offer hope for the future.
PRIORITY AREAS
A commanding central midfielder
Granit Xhaka has improved as the season went on and seems to relish life under Arteta, but there have been too many off days for him to be entirely trusted. Atletico’s Thomas Partey would be available if Arsenal can match his €50 million release clause, but if that is too much, then Porto’s Danilo Pereira is a cut-price option.
A right-sided forward
It’s a squad that’s already top-heavy with forwards, so why would Arsenal need another one? Because the present crop of forwards simply doesn’t fit together. Willian looks almost certain to leave Chelsea on a free transfer, is experienced, hard-working, is used to playing a pressing game and he can actually play wide. If either Lacazette or Aubameyang leave, the Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has been linked as a inexpensive alternative.
A center back who can defend
Good David Luiz is very good, Bad David Luiz is not, and his concession of five penalties this season is a league record. Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis have rarely looked good enough. Malang Sarr of Rennes is out of contract this summer, which perhaps makes him a more likely target than Matthias Ginter, who is entering the last year of his present deal at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Tottenham, Jose Mourinho Must Rebuild on a Budget.
So much has happened in the last 14 months that it feels vaguely incredible that Tottenham was in the Champions League final only last season. Pochettino is a progressive coach who wanted his team to press. Mourinho is more concerned with shape and mentality, his Manchester United side had the lowest distance-run stats in the league. That would suggest the need for a major overhaul of personnel, which for two decades has been the Mourinho way. Since Porto, he has not been a manager who has built on a budget. Yet clearly here that is what he will have to do.
PRIORITY AREAS
Central midfield
A lot of the problems in the Tottenham midfield were caused by the departure of Dembele. Ndombele hasn’t yet shown the consistency of positional discipline to take his place, while Moussa Sissoko is a more forward-minded presence.Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is entering the final year of his contract at Southampton and so would presumably be available reasonably priced, and he seems to have the right sort of profile.
Right-back
Jose Mourinho will almost certainly look to strengthen at right-back in the summer, and he may also be open to adding another left-back to his squad. Atalanta fullback Timothy Castagne, who tends to operate on the right but can also offer cover on the left. Castagne is a versatile operator who usually plays a wing-back for Atalanta, but he also has experience playing in a deeper role in a four-man defence.
A backup center forward
Although Harry Kane remains Tottenham’s biggest star, one of the problems the club has faced in recent years is that when he is hurt or otherwise not available, his replacements are often a very different type of player. Callum Wilson scored eight goals for Bournemouth in a difficult campaign and reportedly has a $13 million relegation release clause. He has regularly been Kane’s backup for England and could be for Spurs.
For Manchester United, Sancho a Top Target, High-Level Depth Is a Must
Things are headed in the right direction at Old Trafford, but in order to return to the top of the ladder, a deeper squad and some high-end reinforcements are necessary.But there are also concerns. United didn’t actually play well in any of its last five matches, even if the only defeat was the FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had gambled on essentially picking the same players game after game–and given the performance in that FA Cup semifinal when he did make changes, perhaps with good reason–but the result was that his side was exhausted by the final couple of weeks of the league campaign. Clearly, he needs to have a deeper squad that he trusts if United is to thrive next season.
PRIORITY AREAS
Right wing
United’s forward line is arguably the strongest area of the squad, but that's not stopping the club from targeting Jadon Sancho, the 20-year-old former Manchester City youth product who had 17 goals and 16 assists this past season for Borussia Dortmund.Sancho’s quality is clear, and his pace and trickery fit the style of football Solskjaer favors.
Central Defender
Harry Maguire has improved United without having a sterling season, Victor Lindelof has average season, Axel Tuanzebe is becoming as injury-prone as Eric Bailly, Phil Jones is an irrelevance, and Chris Smalling is enjoying Rome so much he would like to stay there.Villarreal’s Torres has now also been identified as a potential partner for Harry Maguire at the heart of United’s defence although the 23-year-old Spaniard has also caught the eye of Barcelona.
Central midfield
Highly impressive as the Fernandes-Pogba axis is, it is not enough. They cannot play every game, and Fred has shown only flashes of quality. Aston Villa's Jack Grealish is also an option, although he is a far more attacking presence.The issue, though, is whether United would be willing to meet a fee expected to be in the region of $90 million.
Manchester City and Its Specific Needs to Correct a Glaring Weakness
Pep Guardiola likes to play a certain way, and he needs more of the talent capable of carrying that out if he's to avoid another season that includes some sensational highs but a significant number of setbacks.It’s been a strange season for Manchester City. On one hand, it's been one of significant disappointment domestically. On the other, it could still end in Champions League glory, which has, after all, been the target from the start–whatever its fans may think of UEFA.
PRIORITY AREAS
Center back
Ake already signed city do need a world class defender to partner Laporte. Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli is an obvious option who has been linked with the club repeatedly in the past, while there has been talk of Slovakia international Milan Skriniar arriving from Inter.The fact it is reportedly being discussed perhaps suggests some of the other reshaping of his squad that Guardiola may undertake.
Holding midfield
Fernandinho is 35 and has only one year left on his contract. He spent most of last season covering in defense, which exposed Rodri in midfield perhaps more than was ideal. The 24-year-old was in no sense a disaster, but neither did he entirely convince– and besides, City will need cover for when Fernandinho leaves. AC Milan’s 22-year-old Algeria international, Ismael Bennacer, is understood to be a player who has caught Guardiola's eye.
What Liverpool Can Do to Sustain Its Success
Achieving the heights Liverpool has in the last couple of seasons is difficult, but maintaining it could prove to be harder, which is why refreshing the squad and restocking the cabinet in a few areas should be the priority for Jurgen Klopp this summer.Its end to the season was rather less impressive: four defeats in six games before play was suspended that saw it go out of the Champions League and the FA Cup and lose its unbeaten league record (at Watford, of all places); then five wins in nine to round the season off, meaning it missed out on 100 points and the single-season record tally. Not that many in Liverpool seemed to care: winning the title after 30 years was all that mattered–and doing so with an 18-point gap over Manchester City and a 33-point gap over Man United and Chelsea certainly requires no further credentials.
PRIORITY AREAS
Center back depth
The one area where Liverpool’s squad does perhaps look deficient is in central defense. Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez, of course, are all fine players, but if two of them were unavailable, there was a clear drop-off. Dejan Lovren has moved to Zenit Saint Petersburg. Sevilla's Diego Carlos is reportedly a target, although he is also believed to be of interest to Manchester City, as well. It’s been a reported, meanwhile, that a $12 million bid has already been made for Real Betis’s Aissa Mandi, a right back who can also operate in the center.
Central midfield
It’s been a couple of weeks now since reports first emerged linking Liverpool with Thiago Alcantara, who has told Bayern he wants to leave. He has the benefit of being used to a pressing game, and he would add a more cerebral passing aspect to a Liverpool midfield that remains focused on energy.
Left back
As Milner ages, it’s not reasonable to expect him to provide cover in midfield and both fullback positions. Left back is a particular issue given the lack of other cover for Andy Robertson, which perhaps explains the link with Olympiakos’s 24-year-old Konstantinos Tsimikas, who is believed to be available for around $9 million.
Chelsea Going All In After Riding Out Its Ban With Success
While others may be pulling back on the spending, Chelsea has maneuvered for a big splash after riding out the wave of its transfer ban and witnessing the growth of some young, in-house talents. Hakim Ziyech (Ajax) and Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) have already been signed, which, with Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, means a formidable young forward line is already in place. Lampard has made it fairly clear that he is not impressed by either of the first-choice left backs in the squad.After the transfer ban and several seasons of relative austerity before that, it looks as though Chelsea is prepared this summer to buck the orthodoxy, assume football’s economy will soon recover after the COVID-19 downturn and spend big–which perhaps also indicates it believes that FFP regulations are now essentially unenforceable.
PRIORITY AREAS
Goalkeeper
Kepa is the biggest personnel issue for Lampard to resolve. The manager's lack of faith in his high-priced keeper was seen on the final day of the season, as he left Kepa out for Willy Caballero, but it’s hard to see how the 25-year-old Spaniard could be offloaded at anything other than an enormous loss. Andre Onana of Ajax and Nick Pope of Burnley are cheaper options, although only the former has much experience of playing behind a high line.
Right-sided attacking midfield
It’s hard to see why he's a priority given the riches already available to Chelsea, but it remains the strong favorite to land Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen. Space is being opened up by the departure.Quite how everything fits together is unclear, and it seems inevitable that one or two players may find themselves under-utilized , but it’s undeniably exciting.
Left back
Chelsea could also do with new faces in the center, but it’s left back that appears to be the most pressing issue for Lampard. It’s understood Leicester City is prepared to let one big name leave this summer, and after James Maddison signed a new contract, that probably means Ben Chilwell, although a price tag of around $105 million may be prohibitive. Chelsea has reportedly asked him to make a formal transfer request.
