As if it was not enough to win the Premier League title once again (not to mention the season opening Charity Shield last weekend), Manchester United insisted on staying ahead of the pack even in the closed season.
Business was completed briskly, with the 20-year-old goalkeeper David de Gea bought from Atlético Madrid, Phil Jones, a teenage defender, coming from Blackburn Rovers and the winger Ashley Young relocating from Aston Villa. These were not breathtaking moves, but they sufficed to ensure that United would be made favourites at that moment to retain the title.
The continuity is a cause of envy and frustration to others. Players of the standing of Edwin van der Sar and Paul Scholes could retire without anyone acting as if calamity had fallen upon Old Trafford. The end of their careers was anticipated and the midfielder, for instance, had started less than half of last season’s Premier League fixtures.
Regardless of the long-term planning, Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad will still have to demonstrate both that their standards have not dipped and that they retain the knowhow to come through the key matches unscathed.
There was no immediate rush by other clubs to reveal a grand intention to supplant United. Perhaps even the foreign owners are weary of losing so much money. Liverpool came closest to making a splash without plunging into deep debt. Their fans would have understood the logic of Kenny Dalglish when he bought Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez at a cost of some £57-million, particularly as most of it was recouped with the transfer of Fernando Torres to Chelsea.
Suárez can score on his own account but will also be expected to serve as a provider for Carroll, as will the £20-million winger Stewart Downing.
Day-dreaming fans can draw a parallel with Dalglish’s Blackburn side, which had men who could get the ball to Alan Shearer when the title went to Ewood Park in 1995. Repeating that sort of feat, however, is not easy and there will be doubts about Liverpool. Despite a glut of options provided by the recruitment of £20-million Jordan Henderson and £7-million Charlie Adam, the midfield lacks quality and there should be disquiet if Steven Gerrard, at 31, is still the main source of dynamism. There could be qualms, too, about the defence should injuries go on gnawing at Daniel Agger as they did last season.
Dalglish has at least completed eye-catching business in 2011. Few counterparts enjoy that good fortune and not even Manchester City looked masters of their own destiny when Carlos Tevez left the club to get on with the American tour without him.
Suddenly the circumstances of the manager, Roberto Mancini, did not look so enviable. But it would be rash to assume that the project has stalled. The tone of the Premier League can alter in the moment it takes for one spectacular footballer to put his name to a contract, and so the acquisition of such a skilful striker as Sergio Agüero will have increased optimism at Eastlands.
A note of conservatism reflects conditions in the European and, for that matter, global economy. Many will be relieved at that. Harry Redknapp, for instance, may be addicted to trading in the transfer market, but he will already have done well if he holds tight to players who took fifth place for Tottenham Hotspur.
Although that position in the table prevented an immediate return to the Champions League, there was consolidation before he had to bear the anxiety caused by Chelsea’s interest in Luka Modric.
At Stamford Bridge the initial aim of the new manager, André Villas-Boas, was to dampen any expectation of spectacular sums being spent on new players. Perhaps it is just a negotiating position, but managers and, more pertinently, owners may also have settled into a more subdued mood. Roman Abramovich might have had his exuberance stifled by Torres’s toils so far at Chelsea.
Scepticism about transfer fees is on the rise among most club owners. For as long as that lasts, the consequence is a rather pleasing retro tone that evokes a period when it was normal for clubs to come somewhere near to balancing the books. Uefa will be trying to enforce that prudence as its financial fair-play rules come into effect. Club proprietors, in the short term at least, will then be relieved if they can shake their heads sorrowfully and tell fans that it is just not feasible to buy a particular star.
Keeping outstanding figures will have to do instead. Newly promoted clubs, who comprise Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City and Swansea City this year, may one day feel there is a greater hope of establishing themselves. The Premier League is slightly more circumspect already and that could, for example, suit Arsenal, who made a rather poor effort, irrespective of injuries, when there was a real prospect of taking the title.
Finishing fourth was galling and the fans no longer seem so entranced by a manager without silverware since 2005. Lamenting the injury that restricted Thomas Vermaelen to five appearances is natural, but a lack of depth in the squad was also exposed when he was sidelined.
Arsène Wenger has had to contemplate the sale of Cesc Fábregas while also pondering necessary restructuring at a club that has fallen short for too long. Others, too, get exasperated. The ache continues at St James’ Park (Newcastle), the Stadium of Light (Sunderland) and Villa Park (Aston Villa), where the attendance figures are far more imposing than the results. Although those on lesser budgets win admirers, with Fulham in particular overcoming the odds to finish in the top half of the table, it would galvanise the league if those of greater means were as good at making the most of their potential.
The competition no longer feels quite so opulent, but that has its benefits. Setting aside nationalistic interests, it felt healthy for football in Europe that English clubs have still to reimpose their dominance. Last season, United alone got to the last four of the Champions League, before being outclassed by Barcelona in the final. Two years before, three of the semi-finalists had been from England.
Perhaps the bombast and even the sums previously spent can be scaled down. There is no prospect of the Premier League turning into a homely tournament and nor would anyone wish to see it shrink too far.
Even so, there was a breeziness to the July friendlies that evoked days gone by. Liverpool won 4-3 in Guangdong, Gervinho struck twice for Arsenal in his debut against Köln, and United’s Rafael da Silva finished from near the byline as he sent the ball through the legs of the Chicago Fire goalkeeper. This was fun and, with luck, the season to come will be more reminiscent of a time when football clubs seemed to belong, above all, to the people who love them. —