If you’re a fan of a Premier League team, looking at your newly assembled squad this weekend and wondering who some of them are and how they might fit together, you’re not alone. Tottenham and Crystal Palace brought in 10 new players. Chelsea, Aston Villa, Brighton and Coventry all added an entire XI. Ipswich signed 14 and Hull signed 18, almost a full squad.
Much has already been made of the astronomical fees exchanged by Premier League clubs this summer. Once Manchester City set the bar at £116m for Elliot Anderson, the rest had little choice but to follow. Even so, it was alarming to see Tottenham spend £85m on a winger who scored one goal a season at the Etihad, that Liverpool agreed £123m for Paris Saint-Germain’s impact substitute, that City spent £125m on the guy who got himself sent off in a World Cup final.
