Goal diggers: Rudraneil Sengupta writes on the upcoming EPL season

It is sobering to think that no club has done more to bolster its squad, both financially and in choice of players, than the champions themselves: Liverpool.

Liverpool sauntered to the 2024-25 English Premier League title in total defiance of the usual caveats for a club in the circumstances they were in.

Liverpool's Cody Gakpo (left) fights for the ball during a friendly match with Japan's J-League team Yokohama F, in July. (AFP)

A legendary manager, Jurgen Klopp, had left after effecting a long-overdue revival, an inevitable downward spiral had begun, and a new manager with unproven pedigree had taken over a squad whose most iconic players were ageing. Usually, this is a recipe for disaster (think, Manchester United) or at least a long road to rebuilding (think, Arsenal).

Liverpool and Arne Slot forged a route almost no one manages, to instant success.

With the 2025-26 set poised to begin on Friday, it is sobering to think that no club in the league has done more to bolster its squad, both financially and in choice of players, than the champions themselves.

Liverpool suffered a tragedy in July, when the talismanic Diogo Jota died alongside his brother in a car accident. The team also saw a few great players leave, including club legend Trent Alexander-Arnold, who moved to Real Madrid, and Luis Diaz, who went to Bayern Munich.

Alexander-Arnold’s absence may not be felt at all, with the signing of Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen. The Dutch right-back has all the same attributes: a terrific attacking threat down the right wing, great speed, laser-guided passing accuracy, and perhaps a little more grit defensively than Alexander-Arnold. To be a standout player in last season’s outstanding Leverkusen team was no easy feat, but Frimpong did it with ease.

In the exodus from Leverkusen, Liverpool has also landed a man who is a top contender to become the most influential playmaker of his generation: Florian Wirtz.

While he sets off fireworks every time he is on the pitch, the established squad at Liverpool is firing on all cylinders too. Mohamed Salah shows no signs of wear and tear, despite eight years of sensational seasons for his club. Cody Gakpo is becoming sharper and more threatening with each season. And Dominik Szoboszlai is in competition with Wirtz for the title of chief dismantler of the opposition.

Liverpool is undoubtedly the team to watch. But they will have stiff competition all around. Because all the top Premier League teams have fared well on the transfer market.

Last season’s runners-up, Arsenal, have finally signed a pure striker, the Swedish Viktor Gyokeres. The Gunners have managed second-best three years in a row (and have not won a title since 2004), but the clamour that they can’t compete effectively without a classical striker has gone on for much longer. Gyokeres certainly fits the bill: big, tall and clinical-minded, he scored a staggering 54 goals in 52 matches last season, for Sporting Lisbon, and has an overall record of 97 goals across 102 matches for the Portuguese team. That’s an avalanche that can only come with lizard-like striking instincts.

Arsenal have also done well to acquire Spanish midfielder Martin Zubimendi, a quiet, extremely efficient defensive midfielder in the mould of Manchester City’s Rodri. Zubimendi will pair perfectly with Declan Rice to make a dynamic, near-impregnable midfield.

Speaking of City, no other team or manager in the league has more to prove. After winning the league four years in a row, Pep Guardiola’s side fizzled out to a third-place finish in 2024-25. Guardiola, the most successful and influential manager of the past decade, barely knows this feeling of being third-best. He will do anything to claw his way back to the top, and helping him will be a transformed City squad that has acquired a bunch of young, fast, explosive players. Among these: France’s 21-year-old attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki, who created 125 scoring opportunities for Lyon last season.

The young aspiring stars will be held together not by the genius of Kevin De Bruyne, whose years in the club made him the best midfielder of the past decade, but by the Dutch playmaker Tijjani Reijnders, coming off a terrific season with AC Milan.

No one can replace the singular genius of De Bruyne, who is now with Napoli, but Reijnders is a riveting playmaker, a brilliant reader of the game who is as good at carrying the ball as he is at passing it. He is the kind of footballer destined to dominate whatever team he is on, and that’s just what Guardiola wants.