Reigning champions Liverpool kick off the Premier League season on Friday with Europe’s richest league strengthened by a remarkable £2 billion ($2.7 billion) spending splurge. Liverpool will include £100 million midfield signing Florian Wirtz and new forward Hugo Ekitike in their squad to face Bournemouth at Anfield, among a handful of new recruits.
They are favourites to retain their crown, but the unknown factor is the potential effect of the tragic death of Portuguese forward Diogo Jota in a car crash in Spain in July. Arsenal, one club hoping to topple Liverpool, face an immediate test of their title credentials against a revamped Manchester United on Sunday.
Newcastle are set to be without unsettled star striker Alexander Isak for a tough trip to Aston Villa — the Swede is wanted by Liverpool. Liverpool have changed their careful shopping habits and suddenly outspent their rivals, overhauling a squad fresh from winning the league. Only once since 2007, when Manchester City did it in 2019, have the Premier League champions been the biggest-spending English club in the market.
A spree that has already seen Liverpool’s US owners approve £260 million on Wirtz, Ekitike and defenders Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, is far from over with Isak and Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi linked with moves to Anfield. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have been sold. The transition has shown teething problems in pre-season with a slick attack let down by a porous defence.
Manager Arne Slot is confident his side are ready as they seek to retain the title for the first time since 1984. “I think we’ve lost five to six players that played quite a lot of minutes for us last season and we brought in four new ones, so then it’s normal that there’s a little bit of adaptation,” said Slot. “But we are definitely ready for the league to start.”
