Terrible article
Man City surrendered their Premier League title during the transfer window
<a class="postlink" href="https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/man-city-s-short-fallings-in-the-transfer-window-will-see-them-surrender-title-to-chelsea-223624208.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pi ... 24208.html</a>
Weeks before the season had even started, probably at some stage during the World Cup – when we were either all waxing lyrical about Jogi Loew’s Germany or weeping over our respective nations’ fortunes as they fell by the wayside – it was already apparent which clubs would be challenging for the Premier League.
But, to be honest, it’s always pretty obvious which teams are going to be there or there abouts, isn’t it?
England’s top flight is one of the most exciting leagues in world football. It throws up some truly astonishing results and score lines, but, come May, the usual crowd are always there. Arsenal hogging that fourth spot that they hold so dear to them, of course.
But this year, it was slightly different. There were only two team names on the lips of those trying to make an educated guess at who would sit atop the pile after 38 glorious Premier League matchdays.
Manchester City and Chelsea.
Louis van Gaal’s appointment at Manchester United brought about an air of excitement amongst United fans that was so clearly lacking during the ill-fated David Moyes reign. But the damage had been done at United. Too much even for Van Gaal to resurrect in the short time that he had between guiding the Netherlands to third at the World Cup and taking over at Old Trafford.
Liverpool, who finished two points behind champions City during the previous campaign, had to contend with the departure of talisman Luis Suarez. A catastrophic loss and one they weren’t going to recover from ahead of the new term. The addition of Champions League football would also inhibit Brendan Rodgers’ men from making a second consecutive jaunt for Premier League glory.
And we all figured that Arsenal would impress, keeping pace with those at the top before ultimately falling away.
So, just Man City and Chelsea, then?
Not quite.
Whilst the ever-calculated Manuel Pellegrini could be seen celebrating his first Premier League title at City with a well-earned holiday, Jose Mourinho was doing his sums, adding the final few touches to a formula that would transform his third-placed outfit into league champions.
The Special One had already selected a special few; a group of players that would complete the puzzle.
Pellegrini, on the other hand, was off on his jollies, contemplating how to improve a championship-winning side whilst adhering to financial constraints. The Arab-owned club were limited to a net spend of £49 million over the summer, just to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
The west London outfit had no such worries. They were free to do their business early on. And by mid-July, Mourinho had acquired the players that will see his Chelsea be crowned champions.
The Blues boss’ acquisitions were exactly what you would have come to expect from a man who has made it his business to achieve success on whichever shores he has washed up on.
Man United’s signing of Radamel Falcao will certainly live long in the memory of those who sit in front of the TV on deadline day, waiting for the drama to unfold as Jim White nears a breakdown, but the signing of the summer was undoubtedly Cesc Fabregas.
View gallery
.Cesc Fabregas celebrates with Diego Costa (Getty)
Cesc Fabregas celebrates with Diego Costa (Getty)
At £27 million, the former Arsenal midfielder was cheaper than Alexis Sanchez, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, and he cost only £2m more than Liverpool paid Southampton for Adam Lallana. But he arrived at Stamford Bridge with over 150 appearances for Barcelona and 91 caps for Spain, at the age of 27. More importantly, though, he arrived with bags of Premier League experience, having made 212 league appearances for Arsenal in which he scored 35 goals and notched 77 assists.
Just last season, Chelsea attempted fewer through balls into their strikers than relegated Norwich, which is why Mourinho desperately needed someone with the ability to knit a team together. Fabregas was that man.
After the first six league games of the season, Fabregas topped statistics tables, passing at a higher rate and more accurately, and creating more goalscoring opportunities than his rivals.
Along with Fabregas arrived his Brazilian-born compatriot Diego Costa, who became hot property following an astonishing season with Atletico Madrid in which he fired them to La Liga glory and a runners-up medal in the Champions League.
“Can he cut it in the Premier League?” asked the doubters as the injury-prone 25-year-old prepared to make his mark on the top-flight.
Eight goals in six Premier League appearances suggests that he can.
Elsewhere, Mourinho found a long-term replacement for the departing Ashley Cole in Filipe Luis, and added Loic Remy to bolster his striking ranks. The acquisition of Didier Drogba was a masterpiece that pleases fans and players alike, even though the Ivorian will never replicate the form he showed during his first stint at the club.
And champions Manchester City? Well, one of their first bits of business was very astute. Bacary Sagna arrived from Arsenal on a free transfer, but the Frenchman has yet to replace World Cup runner-up Pablo Zabaleta.
Fernando gives City another dimension and will help to plug the gap between their attacking midfielders and back line, whilst it is hoped that £32m Eliaquim Mangala will partner captain Vincent Kompany at the heart of the City defence.
View gallery
.Eliaquim Mangala (Getty)
Eliaquim Mangala (Getty)
Whether France’s fourth-choice centre-half can do so remains to be seen, of course. All things looked rosy following his impressive debut against Arsenal, but Mangala’s subsequent two performances in a City shirt were nothing short of woeful.
The 23-year-old scored a rather hilarious own goal and then conceded a penalty against Hull last week and made mistake after mistake in City's 2-0 win over Aston Villa. The defender lacked composure against Paul Lambert's side - perhaps a knock-on effect from the confidence-sapping performance against Hull - and, were Villa more clinical in the final third, would have been responsible for gifting the opposition goals yet again.
And in that is the difference; Mourinho was sure that his signings were the missing pieces of the puzzle. The Chelsea boss knew where his side were lacking last year and set out early to address those issues in the summer.
Manchester City won the league last season, not just on their own merit, but because those around them gave them a big hand in doing so - and that hand papered over the cracks in their squad, cracks they failed to address in the transfer window and cracks that will ultimatelty cost them their league crown.
