Alexandre Lacazette – Arsenal
A £52.7 million signing from Lyon, Lacazette scored with his first attempt at goal in his Arsenal debut. Shortly afterwards he was, totally inexplicably, dropped for the game against Liverpool where Wenger, in a moment brought on by ever-increasing bouts of insanity, preferred Danny Welbeck up front.
Arsenal, unsurprisingly, lost the game heavily and question marks have been raised again, and very early, about the role of the manager in this loss.
Why spend all that money on a player then drop him to the bench for the first “big” test?
We still think that Lacazette will be a success at Arsenal and expect him to finish the season as their top scorer which will be good news for Arsenal fans who can probably no longer rely on Alexis Sánchez to fulfil this role.
Álvaro Morata – Chelsea
Thought to have been Antonio Conte’s second choice striker after Romelu Lukaku went to Manchester United, Morata is another who scored very early for his new club.
He is likely to play, barring injury or suspension, in every game deemed important by his manager who may rest him for the Carabao Cup.
As with Lacazette at Arsenal, we don’t think he will be the Premier League’s top scorer but he will get his fair share of goals for Chelsea and will, more than likely, be their top scorer by quite a distance.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Liverpool
This is a player who, supposedly, turned down a move to Chelsea in favour of Liverpool. Chelsea fans have been quick to point out that he wouldn’t have got into their team and that is the reason for going to Merseyside.
Yet, at Liverpool, he has to overcome the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana if he wants to play in his preferred position, no easy task!
If he can perform to his maximum ability then he certainly has the talent to keep Lallana on the bench and, with Coutinho in an unknown state due to his failed Barcelona deal, the Ox may get a chance to show what he can do sooner rather than later.
He also needs to score more goals and feels that this is more likely from a central position.
Ederson – Manchester City
The decision to send Joe Hart on loan to Torino last season proved to be the correct one, as did the decision to do the same, but to West Ham, this season. Hart has been in very dodgy form at both clubs and is now in danger of losing his England place.
His replacement, Claudio Bravo, was better with his feet, as Guardiola wanted, he just wasn’t very good when it came to using his hands. Consequently, a new keeper has been brought in.
As Manchester City are not expected to struggle in the goal-scoring stakes then Ederson is the player who will probably be under the most scrutiny.
Judging by his first few performances in a City shirt, he will be fine. City just have to hope he stays injury-free!
Nemanja Matić – Manchester United
The most surprising signing of the recent transfer window. Very few people expected Chelsea to allow one of their better players to go to a direct rival.
The reasoning at Stamford Bridge would be that, having signed Tiémoué Bakayoko from Monaco, Matić would struggle to get into the team.
Judging by his first few performances for United it would have been Bakayoko who struggled to get into the team!
He has been in outstanding form and is just what United needed to allow Paul Pogba more freedom to get forward, which has resulted in him scoring two goals already!
Chelsea may very well be credited with a large “assist” if Manchester United go on to win the title.
Fernando Llorente – Tottenham Hotspur
An unexpected signing this one. There is no doubt that Spurs needed back-up for Harry Kane just as there is also no doubt that Vincent Janssen wasn’t it!
Llorente could have stayed at Swansea and played in every game. He is also probably not getting much of a pay rise at Spurs thanks to the wage policy of Daniel Levy.
What he can do, however, is sit on the bench for big European games and come on, if needed, to affect the outcome.
He will also be playing, one would think, in the Carabao Cup and this is another avenue where he could help Tottenham lift a trophy.
Whatever the case, he feels it is the right move and, given his age, who can argue with him?
So that’s six signings, out of many, who should keep the season interesting for the duration.
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