The international break has put club football on hold for a while. THT takes this brief pause in an action packed season to assess which summer signing has had the biggest impact on Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur
11 weeks of Premier League action, more than half of the Champions League group stage and the major part of the League Cup have all been done and dusted.
The big Premier League clubs have had enough time to integrate their summer signings into the team. THT looks at the one new player who has been the most impressive for their respective clubs in a two-part series.
Here we take a look at the best summer signing made by Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal
Shkodran Mustafi
Arsenal had an uncharacteristically active transfer window this past summer. They brought in midfielder Granit Xhaka, defenders Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding, forwards Lucas Perez and Takuma Asano, all for a combined price of nearly £100 million.
Former Borussia Monchengladbach man Xhaka has been the one grabbing the headlines. The 24-year-old central midfielder has already scored a couple of sublime long distance screamers for Arsenal, and was also sent off against Swansea City.
However, only one of Arsenal’s summer signings has made him indispensable to the first team, and it’s not Xhaka.
After a prolonged transfer saga, German center-back Skhodran Mustafi joined from Valencia for a reported £35 million. The 24-year-old has fit in brilliantly alongside Laurent Koscielny in the heart of defence.
Mustafi has made an average of 2.5 successful tackles, 3.4 interceptions and 5.3 clearances per game in the Premier League this season. His composure, skill and physical prowess has vastly improved Arsenal, and the German could be one of their instrumental players in a possible charge for the title this time.
Liverpool
Sadio Mane
This one is an absolute no-brainer. There were huge expectations of Jurgen Klopp in his first summer transfer window as Liverpool manager. Rumors linking him to his former players at Dortmund Ilkay Gundogan and Mario Gotze were widespread.
However, the German instead made a number of low key signings, snapping up the likes of Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Loris Karius, Joel Matip, Ragnar Klavan and Marko Grujic. Not one of these players were considered huge signings at the time.
Senegalese winger Sadio Mane has proven to be a superstar in his own right though, after joining from Southampton for a reported £34 million. The pacy attacker has notched up six goals and two assists in ten appearances for the Reds in the Premier League. He’s also an integral part of possibly the most exciting attacking quartet in the league right now.
Tottenham Hotspur
Victor Wanyama
Mane wasn’t the only key player that Southampton lost this past summer. Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama joined Tottenham Hotspur for a bargain fee of £11 million and he has fit in seamlessly into the Spurs side.
Wanyama has started all of Spurs Premier League games so far this season, and have even scored once for the club. His strong physical presence, aerial dominance and tough tackling in central midfield has been crucial for Spurs as they remain the only unbeaten side in the league.
Dutch striker Vincent Janssen and French midfielder Moussa Sissoko haven’t quite lived up to the hype. However 25-year-old Wanyama is turning out to be a midfield beast for Spurs. He is well on the way to becoming a key player under Mauricio Pochetttino, who was the manager who brought him to England and Southampton in the first place.
