Beating The Deadline

It may seem hard to believe but in a galaxy once far, far away; the English Premier League was not the biggest league on the planet. In the puff-full days of 1992 for example; the English league was nowhere at the level of say the Italian Serie A; there were no foreigners or big players; and players like Peter Ndlovu were the star of the show.... you get the drift.

Well you could maybe trace the signing of one Eric Cantona by Leeds United in 1992 that heralded the start of the show. Leeds became champions of the land; and in a rather insurmountable twist of fate; Manchester United bought him over to herald the start of their dynasty.

Before long; in 1995 another landmark moment happened: the superstar Dennis Bergkamp was miraculously bought by Arsenal from Inter Milan. That showed the world that the English League was to be taken seriously; and everyone took notice. That culminated with the excitement and globalization of the Premier League; and soon everyone was watching. Stars such as David Ginola; Juergen Klinsmann & Faustino Asprilla started coming over and the Premier League was to explode into everyone's consciousness.

Now all the big stars are in the Premiership; and everyone wants to play there. It has become the biggest and most exciting league the world has to offer. Recent years saw COVID having an impact on the amount clubs could spend on players; but the recent transfer window has happily seen a decent return to normality.

And it speaks volumes on the richness of the Premier League that it is the league's 4 BOTTOM teams that are spending the bulk of the money. No less Newcastle United; who have embellished their wide horizons by signing Brazil star Bruno Guimaraes; along with Kieran Trippier; Chris Wood; Dan Burn & Matt Targett. Aston Villa have continued the onslaught; bringing in former Liverpool legend Phillipe Coutinho & ex-Everton left-back Lucas Digne to add to their already-successful transfer window. And Everton themselves have done well; bringing in Dele Alli & Donny van de Beek for hopefully a reversal of fortunes from their previous clubs.

But arguably it is Tottenham Hotspur who have done the best business this window. Not only have they got rid of unwanted players such as Alli; Tanguy Ndombele & Giovani lo Celso; just as importantly; they have brought in two massive recruits: the new star-in-waiting Dejan Kulusevski and highly-rated youngster Rodrigo Bentancur. Let's see how it all pans out.