Manchester's City and United move to reclaim Premier League glory
The new English Premier League season is due to start on 8 August. Chelsea will kick off the campaign as champions but the teams who finished behind them have been bolstering their squads as several signings showed on Monday.
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A few years ago, Manchester's main newspaper, the Manchester Evening News, decided it would bill the city as the capital of football. And from an English perspective the brag had resonance.
For four consecutive years between 2011 and 2014, either Manchester United or Manchester City were crowned champions.
Though Chelsea stopped the duopoly last season, Manchester City were runners-up and United were fourth.
"We can't really call it the capital of football any more," said Manchester Evening News football writer Stuart Mathieson. "In 2014/15 United weren't even in the Uefa champions league even though City were the defending champions. The tag has been tarnished, I'm afraid."
But it appears that the Manchester clubs are intent on recapturing their elan. They've been the teams making the big money signings in the early part of the transfer window.
On Monday, Liverpool confirmed that star striker Raheem Sterling was on his way out of Anfield. Manager Brendan Rodgers refused to reveal his destination. But with City having had two offers rejected, it seemed that the Etihad Stadium would be Sterling's next port of call.
The 20-year-old rose to prominence behind the strikers Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge during the 2013/14 season when Liverpool finished second two points behind the champions Manchester City.
Having been dispossessed of their title by Chelsea, City have shown their financial clout by recruiting for more than 60 million euros one of the England's brightest prospects.
Chelsea's response so far has been the arrival of Asmir Begovic from Stoke City to replace Petr Cech as a back-up to first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The west Londoners have also drafted in Radamel Falcao on a season long loan from the French club Monaco.
That deal has raised eyebrows. The 29-year-old was a failure during a stint at Manchester United last season. He scored four goals in 26 games.
However Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho says he believes the Colombia striker will rediscover his bearings.
Meanwhile United have been splashing the cash. They announced a double signing on Monday of Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton and Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich.
Schneiderlin, 25, goes to Old Trafford for 33 million euros a year after trying to leave the south coast for Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester United and Southampton had been wrangling over a price for the past few weeks.
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman said he had no intention of standing in the way of the Frenchman but United's offers had not been serious.
Schweinsteiger's journey to United is intriguing. Twenty million euros for a 30-year-old confounds footballing logic. But Schweinsteiger worked with the United boss Louis van Gaal during his two years with the Bavarians between 2009 and 2011.
He knows the Dutchman's demanding methods and as Van Gaal tries to re-establish United as the primary force in England, a man with eight German titles, a World Cup winners's medal and 104 international caps should have some wit on a football field.
Schweinsteiger's arrival comes in the wake of 32 million euros spent on bringing the Netherlands forward Memphis Depay from PSV Eindhoven and the 18 million euros on the Italy defender Matteo Darmian from Torino.
Arsenal have only purchased Cech from Chelsea. That deal went ahead much to the chagrin of Mourinho who didn't want the 32-year-old Czech international sold to a direct rival. Chelsea skipper John Terry also questioned the transfer saying that Cech would gain Arsenal at least 12 points over the course of a season.
But after 10 years of loyal service the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich allowed Cech his wish to remain in London where his family is settled.
With Liverpool further depleted by the loss of Sterling, it appears that the 2015/2016 season will be a contest between the Manchester and London clubs.
"There's always been that swing and there's always been a pride in the north of England," added Mathieson. "You go back a few years to when Liverpool and Everton were the dominant forces and then it became United and Arsenal fighting it out.
"The last few years have been very much City and United. The north - south battle is very much on again and as much as we like to be thinking that Manchester is the capital of football, it's great for the rivalries to be there."
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