Liverpool’s unprecedented summer spending has left their rivals in no doubt about the challenge which awaits.
There was no resting on their laurels for the Reds, who comfortably won the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season as head coach, with a £300million bonanza on players designed to build for the long-term future.
Florian Wirtz, one of Europe’s hottest prospects at 22, chose Anfield over Manchester City and Bayern Munich, while his best friend at Bayer Leverkusen, Jeremie Frimpong, and Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, both 24, Eintracht Frankfurt’s 23-year-old forward Hugo Ekitike and Bournemouth’s 21-year-old left-back Milos Kerkez have also joined.
The name of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak continues to loom ominously in the background and, of course, Liverpool still have Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, cornerstones of their title success, but the effect of the absences of Trent Alexander-Arnold and, tragically, Diogo Jota, are still to be judged.
The squad, however, is stronger than this time last year and the questions the chasing pack will have been asking themselves all summer is ‘How do we catch up?’.
Arsenal have finally bought a number nine in Viktor Gyokeres off the back of a 48-goal season for Sporting and will hope he is the answer to their failure to get over the line in recent seasons.
The Gunners persuaded Martin Zubimendi to move to London 12 months after he turned down a move to Anfield, while Noni Madueke has made the shorter trip across town from Chelsea with the expectation that added creativity will bridge the 10-point gap from last term.
Finding his range 🎯
A first look at Viktor training with The Arsenal 👇
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 31, 2025
Breathing down their necks will be a Kevin De Bruyne-less Manchester City, who started their rebuilding in the January window with the £92m additions of Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov and have continued with Lyon winger Rayan Cherki, Ajax’s Tijjani Rejinders, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and goalkeeper James Trafford.
City’s struggles last season came as a surprise to everyone, themselves included, and it would be a shock if they were to continue even with an influx of new players to integrate.
Chelsea finished only two points behind City in May and a summer Club World Cup win will have done wonders for the confidence of Enzo Maresca’s young squad.
The return to form of Cole Palmer in that event was encouraging and the England midfielder will have new faces ahead of him in the form of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro as Chelsea again invested in youth, with Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens and Palmeiras’ Estevao providing options out wide.
Fifth place was worth a Champions League spot last season and it went to Newcastle, but the ongoing saga of Isak’s future, plus their failure to strengthen up front having been gazumped on a number of targets by Premier League rivals, leaves them in something of a quandary.
So who will be best placed to take advantage? It should be Manchester United. Their worst season in 30 years left them looking down not up in 15th but, after a full pre-season – something which head coach Ruben Amorim did not have as he took over in November – they will be targeting the top four.
They have tried to address their goalscoring problem by bringing in Wolves’ Matheus Cunha and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo for a combined £130m, and are closing in on RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko.
That should be more than enough to catapult them over the mid-table teams but Amorim still has a lot of questions to answer on whether he can find the consistency which will turn them into a Champions League side.
Of those mid-table teams, Nottingham Forest may well dream of repeating the kind of stellar campaign which saw them threatening a top-four finish for a long period, but, with European football now a consideration, a season of consolidation may be their best hope.
Go inside Granit Xhaka’s first training session at the Academy of Light! 🎬
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) August 1, 2025
The three promoted teams – Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland – would certainly take that.
Sunderland, back in the top flight for the first time since 2017, are hoping to spend their way to safety with club-record signing Habib Diarra one of eight players brought in for a combined £120m, although experienced former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka may prove to be the shrewdest acquisition.
Championship winners Leeds have been more circumspect, while Burnley have been their usual frugal selves and will rely heavily on Scott Parker’s top-flight experience.
