In their quest to compete with defending champions Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the English Premier League pyramid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham all sought to attract outstanding players with varying levels of activity in the pre-season . .

These four clubs understand that there is no margin for error if they want to compete with Manchester City, four-time champions in the last five seasons, and their perennial rival, Liverpool, the 2020 champions.

Even if these two clubs leave the pack again, another hot race for the last two places in the Champions League is expected.

AFP is looking at this upcoming competition between the four clubs.

– Chelsea –

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, who has been given the responsibility of getting Chelsea off to a strong start to a new era, has been nervous during a wild summer at his club.

With the departure of several officials who had worked under former Russian owner Roman Abramovich as part of the rebuilding of Stamford Bridge, Tuchel took on even more responsibility as he worked with new American owner Todd Boehle to reshape his team.

First impressions were mixed after Boly hinted at his desire to sign Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United before Tuchel objected to the idea of ​​dealing with the demanding star.

Raheem Sterling became Chelsea’s first signing under Pain since a £47.5m ($57.8m) move from City, but the England international is the only addition to the lineup, meaning Tuchel will start the season without an outspoken striker after the return of Belgian Romelu Lukakau to Italian Inter on loan.

Instead, Chelsea focused on finding replacements for German defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Dane Andreas Christensen, who joined Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

The London club have signed Senegalese footballer Kalidou Cucuria from Napoli for £33m while they are reportedly close to signing Spanish left-back Marc Kokorea from Brighton for £50m.

– Manchester United –

Ronaldo’s demand to leave Old Trafford has cast a shadow over the pre-season for new Dutch manager Erik ten Hag.

Some report that the hard-working Ten Hag has impressed his players with his attention to detail and intense training since arriving from Ajax in May.

But the Dutchman’s ability to lift United from the bottom after he was pleased with a sixth-place finish last season will depend on how he handles Ronaldo’s crisis.

The Portuguese wants to join a club that competes in the Champions League next season and he has missed the pre-season round for United in Thailand and Australia “due to family reasons”.

Losing attacking instinct in front of a Ronaldo-sized goal is not something Ten Hag would have preferred to start his era at Manchester with, but he may ultimately feel that the departure of such a demanding star could bring positivity in other ways.

Another blow to Ten Hag was his unbridled desire to sign Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong. Instead, the team turned to Bournemouth’s Dane Christian Eriksen, Ajax’s Argentine Lisandro Martinez, who is the shortest centre-back in the Premier League (1.75m), and Dutch left-back Tyler Malasia.

– Tottenham and Arsenal –

In north London, Tottenham and Arsenal were in a feverish recruiting race after a dramatic battle for a place in Champions League qualification last season.

Spurs finished fourth in the penultimate stage after a fine finish in which they scored three wins in a row, one of which was a 3-0 victory over Arsenal.

As for Arsenal, they bounced back from a bitter disappointment at the end of last season by pouring over £100m into new signings.

Spanish coach Michael Arteta has approached his former club Manchester City to include Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko in two deals totaling £75m.

Portuguese playmaker Fabio Vieira also arrived from Porto as a potential star of the future.