Beyond The Pitch - Oliver Kay

Anto is joined by Times football correspondent Oliver Kay to have a discussion about the elite clubs in the Premier League to determine some early ramifications on the coming season. We start with Liverpool to determine if Kenny Dalglish is done with the moves already completed or whether the club will come back for more defenders once some players are moved off the wage bill like Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani during the summer window. We then turn our attention to Manchester City to examine whether the need to overvalue acquisitions to reach the Champions League may undermine further moves given the raw number of players who have been deemed surplus to requirements by Roberto Mancini - and whether the loss of Tevez and his goalscoring can be handled with the striker options on hand even with a Kun Aguero acquisition. We also examine the Wesley Sneijder possibilities to establish whether he is the player best suited to a Manchester United squad that looks a couple of players shorts in central midfield in front of a defense without Edwin Van der Saar as its final anchor. In the roundup we look at what Chelsea needs to do in the window under its first year manager and if Luka Modric is a foregone conclusion given that The Blues have turned his head with a remarkable offer and if Spurs can hold on to him. Finally, we review the summer for Arsenal and what their actions in some regards and inaction in other areas suggests for its ambitions in a league where the price of success has reached to an even higher plateau with Chelsea and Manchester City setting the marketplace over the last couple of years. As a bonus, we make an early evaluation on how Premier League teams may fare in the Champions League when comparing them to the Spanish superpowers who continue to improve their squads this summer with key acquisitions.

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