Offseason additions to every Premier League club who will prove pivotal

Arsenal already had William Saliba, who was getting a lot of “best centre back in the world?” love during Euro 2024. Now, Saliba will be paired with Calafiori. Arsenal splashed a lot of cash to bring the Italian centre back over from Bologna. It’s hard to argue against the Gunners having the best centre back duo in Europe. Throw David Raya into the mix, and Arsenal’s defense could carry it to a title.

The Premier League is the richest league in the world, and Aston Villa is one of the richest clubs in the world. That gets overlooked sometimes. That’s how a club drops £50 million on a transfer fee to bring in a defensive midfielder. Not just any defensive midfielder, of course. Onana is only 22, and he’s already made 17 appearances for Belgium. Everton, Onana’s former club, was one of the best defensive teams last season. Maybe porting in Onana can do the same thing for Villa.

Okay, we’ve gone from two massive clubs (both who will be in the Champions League) to a team not on the same tier. Bournemouth was mid-table last season, though, and it may run out most of the same roster. Enes Unal is not really a new addition, as he’s a loanee turned official signee. That leaves Huijsen, who played 13 Serie A games last year while on loan at Roma. He’s only 19, and he’s a 6’6’’ (1.98m) centre back. This is a future play, but Huijsen should be able to help the Cherries now as well.

Igor Thiago was brought in from Belgium’s Club Brugge to support Ivan Toney in terms of scoring goals, but we’re looking elsewhere. Konak made 17 appearances in the Turkish Super League last season. He also turned 18 during the season. Konak is one of the best young midfielders in the world, and Brentford is known as a team that relies on analytics. If it has identified Konak at this age, look out.

It’s implausible to believe anybody is going to replace what Pascal Gross did for Brighton. What Wieffer may be able to do is put out fires, as there will likely be more of those without Gross running things in the centre of the midfield. Wieffer was a regular in the Feyenoord lineup the last two seasons, and just earned the club its largest transfer fee. Also, even though he’s a defensive midfielder, he did score five goals last season in the high-flying Dutch league.

This may not be the first name you think of when it comes to Chelsea’s offseason, but Jorgensen caught our eye. The goaltending situation is a mess. There are a few possible names in the mix to be the club’s top keeper. Chelsea may like to splash cash, but it didn’t drop £20.7 million on a transfer fee to bring Jorgensen over for nothing. He may only be 22, but he started 36 games for Villarreal last season. Maybe Jorgensen is the “goalkeeper of the future.” We could see him being the goalkeeper of the present.

Well, Palace lost bright, young star Michael Olise to Bayern Munich (admittedly with a massive transfer fee arriving in return), and Sarr happens to play the same position. Now, he’s no Olise. He’s older, and his Premier League experience comes solely at Watford. Last season, he played at Marseille. Still, somebody has to do an Olise impression, and Sarr will be looked to for that.

Everton has seen more talent exit than enter, but a few new additions will be arriving. Iroegbunam did not play a ton for Aston Villa last season. He made nine appearances in the Premier League, and five in the Europa Conference League. On the other hand, a club on its way to a top-four finish gave a 20-year-old midfielder nine appearances. There is more room for Iroegbunam at Everton.

Hey, Fulham didn’t drop a club-record transfer fee on Smith Rowe because it doesn’t plan to make him an important cog in the roster. The sneaky-fast attacking midfielder won’t have to move far, as he was with Arsenal prior to this. As the Gunners’ talent level built up, Smith Rowe found himself something of the odd man out. However, he made 33 appearances and scored 10 goals during the 2021-22 Premier League season. That’s a level of talent Fulham could really use.

Ipswich got promoted to the Premier League for the first time in years, and then immediately saw the goalkeeper who helped it earn promotion move on. That’s not ideal! If Ipswich doesn’t yo-yo right back down, it’ll likely be because of better-than-expected play in net. Muric, who played for Burnley last season, left a relegated team for a promoted one. Of course, if Muric couldn’t help keep Burnley from being relegated…

Leicester got promoted, saw its manager leave for Chelsea, saw said manager take one of the club’s best players from last season with him, and, well, here we are. Now, Leicester was not your usual relegation fodder, but it doesn’t want to get too comfortable. Okoli is technically a centre back from Atalanta, but that club loaned him out time and time again. Even so, he played 34 Serie A games for Frosinone last season, so he’s played against high-level competition.

Jurgen Klopp might be the best manager in the world. He revitalized Liverpool, taking a fallen (by its standards) club and turning it into one of the five best in the world for half a decade. Klopp is now on a sabbatical at best, is truly retired at worst. Slot was brought in to replace one of Liverpool’s foremost icons. No pressure, right? Slot did some intriguing things at Feyenoord. He has more talent to work with than ever before. How he utilizes said talent will prove pivotal.

Man City has taken a bit of an, “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” approach to this offseason. Savinho is the only addition of any note, but he is notable. The 20-year-old Brazilian was pivotal in Girona’s remarkable run to third in La Liga last season. Girona is a club that is owned mostly by, oh hey, the same sovereign wealth fund that owns Manchester City! Funny how that works out.

Yoro is the most important addition for Manchester United, and also the latest source of tumult for United fans. Everybody wanted the 18-year-old French centre back. He played in 44 games for Lille last season! United was able to sign him to help shore up the defense…and now it has to wait months to see what he can do in the Premier League. Yoro had to have foot surgery. He turns 19 in the middle of November. It’s quite possible he won’t be able to play before that.

For a club with a ton of cash, Newcastle hasn’t really played it. The biggest transfer fee laid out went to Lewis Hall, but Hall was already around on loan last season. Kelly is one of those classic “moving up the Premier League” transfers. He spent the last two seasons playing Premier League football for Bournemouth. Now, the defender is moving over to Newcastle.

Forest has added talent from around the world, but its dip into Serie A brings the biggest acquisition. Milenkovic has spent the last six seasons as a staple at centre back for Fiorentina. The 6’5’’ Serbian has also played a ton for his national team. It speaks to the wealth of the Premier League that a club like Nottingham Forest can add a player of Milenkovic’s calibre.

Give Southampton this: It didn’t look at a roster that finished fourth in the Championship and earned promotion through the playoff and say, “Yeah, we’ll be fine.” The club has added over a dozen players this offseason, but who popped to us? Sugawara intrigues us. The right back has played a ton for AZ Alkmaar the last few seasons. He’s only 24, and he’s played over a dozen times for Japan already as well. There’s a lot of potential for Sugawara to make a splash for a newly-promoted side.

It may be hard for Gray to crack Tottenham’s lineup this season. Then again, Spurs paid a £40 million-transfer fee to bring in an 18-year-old, so clearly it believes in his potential. He played 52 times for Leeds last season. Sure, that was in the Championship, but he was 17 when the season began! Many believe he is a future star for England, and could also be a future star for Tottenham as a result.

Tears were shed at the end of Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool. Tears were also shed at the end of David Moyes’ tenure at West Ham, but those were tears of joy. Fans of the London club had become preoccupied with the axing of Moyes, arguably to their detriment. Now, they have gotten their wish. Lopetegui had left Wolves to wait for a better opportunity. He clearly believes he has found it.

We end with a different kind of addition. Strand Larsen is the one loanee on this list. How would you like a poor man’s Erling Haaland? That’s the feeling around Strand Larsen. The Norwegian is a tall striker like his countrymate, if not as skilled as scoring goals. Who is? That being said, the 24-year-old did score 13 goals for Celta Vigo last season. If he does that for Wolves, that’s a fine return for a loanee.