Sunderland have been the busiest club in the transfer market so far this summer while Premier League champions Manchester United have not been shy to splash the cash either, but it is Liverpool’s dealing which are arguably providing the biggest talking points.
The Black Cats were beset by horrendous injury problems as the 2010/11 season wore on and it was only a late rally which saw them ease any outside chance of relegation to finish in a respectable mid-table position.
Stadium of Light chief Steve Bruce also lost star striker Darren Bent to Aston Villa in January – possibly the worst possible time – but he has responded by landing new players including the likes of Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Craig Gardner and Sebastian Larsson, among others.
Bruce maybe just needs a new striker and his work is done until the mid-season window, but his side is never going to overcome odds of 1000/1 to lift the Premier League trophy.
The fight for the title will be a five-horse race with the traditional big four of Manchester United (7/4), Chelsea (9/4), Arsenal (7/1) and Liverpool (10/1) joined by filth-rich Manchester City (4/1) in the shake-up.
The London pair have so far failed to add to their ranks – Gervinho’s switch to the Emirates from Lille is yet to be rubber-stamped – while City have been fairly low key by landing defenders Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic.
The Citizens are probably more pre-occupied with getting the best price for want-away captain Carlos Tevez although his touted replacement, Atletico Madrid’s Sergio Aguero, will not come cheap.
United and Liverpool, in contrast, have been pretty active so far, with the Reds of Merseyside continuing this summer where they left off in January following the big moves for Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.
Many onlookers felt boss Kenny Dalglish paid well over the odds for Carroll, who at the time was not fully fit, and the same eyebrows were raised when the Scot raided Sunderland for Jordan Henderson, who reportedly cost in excess of £15m, and then added £20m-rated Stewart Downing to the squad from Aston Villa.
United have also thrown around bags of cash this summer on winger Ashley Young, defender Phil Jones and keeper David De Gea, with the latter two unproven at the highest level, like Carroll and Henderson.
However, the difference is that Liverpool are adding to their options from a position of weakness – they are on to their second manager since Rafa Benitez left just over 12 months while the ownership has also changed in the last year.
It remains to be seen whether or not their policy of recruiting players who promise much but have much to prove is successful.
But the fact is that United are arguably the most stable of the Premier League title challengers, have won the title four times out of the last five years and have appeared in three of the last four Champions League finals.
So Sir Alex Ferguson can afford to stir the pot, move players on and see who sinks and who swims.
And that underlines the fact that while Liverpool are making a lot of the running in the summer transfer market, they are ultimately running to stand still because not every move works out.
Just ask Alberto Aquilani.
Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.