The season is a week away from the Community Shield so I thought I’d do a little run down of where I think some of the teams are right now.
Manchester City
The title winners by two points have signed just one player this summer and he was an internal move. They added Savinho who certainly looks tasty. They were rumored to be interested in bringing Bruno G to the club but that chatter fell away. They have a transfer Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads - rumors are Saudi wants Ederson and KDB. That hasn’t happened yet, but when it does, you’d imagine there might be a slight impact there. This season, we know one thing for sure… there will be a ruling. If it’s even half the charges, the punishment will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Manchester United
I’ve watched them quite a bit this preseason and it’s quite dreadful. They re-upped Erik Ten Haag after a 3-week review combined with some speeding. He’s the same guy he was last year - a guy that has had loads of chances who doesn’t have the next level they yearn. Their transfer business so far has seen them bring in Joshua Zirkzee, who looks decent and nothing more. They also added Yoro - a teenage centre back who is already out for 3 months after getting toasted by Gabi Jesus. It’s not looking good there. I do not expect Erik to be there past Christmas.
Chelsea
They made a very odd hire in Enzo Maresca. I was with a Leicester fan in St. Louis, and the first thing he wanted to talk to me about was how much their fans disliked this guy for his one-dimensional approach to football. If you read between the lines, Cheslea’s hierarchy actually got what they wanted, a pliant manager that’ll enact their orders. So far, their summer has been a mess of weird signings that have been made for 2029. Contract talks with Gallagher have been so bad the player has been banished along with Chalobah. Midfielder Enzo was caught on camera doing a big racismo - the photo with 5 black work colleagues ain’t beating the allegations.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to LE GROVE to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.