Premier League Buzz: What's happening in the off season?

By David Billington

The summer transfer window is beginning to gather pace, but the FIFA World Cup continues to shape the market in ways few could have predicted. Morocco wonder kid Ayyoub Bouaddi has emerged as one of the tournament’s breakout stars, attracting interest from some of the Premier League’s biggest clubs after a stunning display against Brazil. Meanwhile, Manchester City remain locked in talks over a blockbuster move for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliott Anderson, whose valuation has sparked debate across English football.

Elsewhere, the managerial merry-go-round shows no signs of slowing down with a wave of new faces arriving in Premier League dugouts ahead of the 2026-27 season. Tottenham are balancing transfer business with World Cup commitments, Chelsea could be forced into the market following Marc Cucurella’s expected move to Real Madrid, while Manchester United continue to monitor midfield reinforcements. From transfer sagas and managerial changes to World Cup-inspired scouting missions, it has been another busy week in the football world.

AYYOUB BOUDDI ATTRACTS BIGGEST PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS

Anyone who watched the Brazil v Morocco World Cup game could not fail to be impressed with the performance of Ayyoub Bouaddi who outshone some of the most famous names at the World Cup and he is only 18 years of age.

Certainly Liverpool’s Iraola Adoni, Chelsea’s Xabi Alonso and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta were all taking note of how he motivated and drove the north African side forward, running past established players such as Casemiro, Bruno Guimaraes and Marquinhos.

Bouaddi signed an extension to his contract before departing for the World Cup because his French Ligue 1 club Lille acted to protect their asset knowing that he would attract attention on the World stage. Consequently, his value has soared to Â£60million and could rise higher if he continues to perform as he did against Brazil.

*Mikel Arteta intends to rotate his four Arsenal midfielders next season with Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly and a new signing who could be Ayyoub Bouaddi

THE MANAGER’S MERRY-GO-ROUND GATHERS PACE

This week Pierre Sage signed a deal to take over from Oliver Glasner at Crystal Palace and he joined the influx of newly appointed coaches and managers to the Premier League.

I don’t remember more new faces in the dugouts than the kick-off for the 2026/27 season. It should be a thrill a minute as they rise and fall but all are under pressure to produce and any failures will be shown the exit door rather quickly .

Sage was voted Ligue 1 Manager of the Year after guiding RC Lens to second place in France last season and he became highly sought after despite having been in charge for less than 100 professional matches. His previous two decades were spent working in French football’s amateur division.

Adoni Iraola is now firmly installed at Liverpool having replaced the sacked Arne Slot. Xabi Alonso is busy attracting incoming talent at Chelsea and Michael Carrick is working to build on his successful interim period as boss of Manchester United. Marco Rose faces a tough challenge matching up to Iraola at south coast club Bournemouth but he has managed RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund. Roberto De Zerbi, having saved Tottenham from the relegation drop, has promised to drive his team into the top half of the table.

Have I missed any out?

Oh yesManchester City, Fulham and newly promoted Ipswich Town have yet to announce their new managers.

There will be a possibility of nine new faces in the Premier League which is almost half the clubs. It is difficult to keep up with so many managers coming and going!

The new season is going to be fascinating and potentially the most entertaining and watchable for years.

TOTTENHAM SIGN SENESI AND THEN SAYS GOODBYE

To the delight of Tottenham’s new manager Roberto De Zerbi, Marcos Senesi has signed a contract and moves from Bournemouth on a free transfer. With a lot of recruitment activity

taking place at the White Hart Stadium they have also signed 28-year-old defender Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton for Â£52million. De Zerbi said that he is strengthening his defence and the two players are top quality. Spurs now have a wealth of defence options with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin already at the club.

Spur’s achievement was short lived when World Cup Argentine defender Leonardo Balerdi suffered a muscle injury and Senesi was called up in his place, just one day after signing for Tottenham. That means De Zerbi will have to wait until the second week of July before his World Cup players return, including Van Hecke who is in the Dutch World Cup squad and it will be only five weeks before the delayed start to the Premier League season on August 22nd. Senesi has joined up with his club captain Cristiano Romero as Argentina look to make back to back World Cup wins.

De Zerbi is intending to assess his players when Tottenham play a behind closed doors match against League One side MK Dons in a pre-season friendly on July 22nd. James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski top the list of injured players hoping to return to the squad. U21 players will join the match and Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear and Jamie Donley will be looking to impress the boss.

After the MK Dons game, Spurs will fly out to New Zealand to play Auckland FC on July 29th and move on to Sydney, Australia to play at the 83,000 capacity stadium as part of the 2026 Sydney Super Cup competition where they will meet Chelsea on August 1st.

IS ANDERSON WORTH 130 MILLION EUROS?

All the hype surrounding Elliott Anderson’s move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City is almost overshadowing England’s World Cup challenge.

Forest want Â£130m consisting of an upfront payment of Â£110m with Â£20m extra in bonuses.

That could make Elliott the most expensive player of all time alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. The big question centres around whether or not he is worth all that money?

There is no doubt Anderson was one of Europe’s standout midfielders last season and was a key factor in Forest’s Premier League survival. He thrives on high energy levels, is fast, skilful and crops up all over the pitch, attacking from midfield, contributing assists and then appearing to miraculously defend his side’s goal area when an attack breaks down and opponents counter in a breakaway move.

Elliott isn’t a big man and stands only 5ft 10ins but he is ultra-physical. Technically he can win a ball in a tight space and move away from an opponent. Forest will lose his link up play with Morgan Gibbs White and the two have an almost telepathic understanding. He is a quiet man off the pitch but a born leader once a game starts. His team mates have nicknamed him the “Geordie Maradona” and he is regularly compared to another north east of England boy, Paul Gascoigne. Three years ago Manchester City backed off a deal to sign Gibbs-White for Â£65million but are now preparing the paperwork to sign Anderson for Â£60m more!

The World Cup will possibly explain to many football supporters exactly why Anderson is so highly rated and he will be very much in the spotlight.

ALONSO’S NEW CHALLENGE AS CUCURELLA HEADS FOR MADRID

Xabi Alonso has expressed his disappointment that Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella has agreed to join Real Madrid after the World Cup. The Spanish international is not considered one of Chelsea’s “untouchables” which includes Cole Palmer and Reece James but his

departure does give Alonso a full back problem and a gap Chelsea have to fill. At the moment he is considering Jorrel Hato as his best left back option.

27-year-old Cucurella had become disillusioned with life at Stamford Bridge and he made his feelings known over the dismissal of Enzo Maresca who he thought should take the Blues into the new season. Although the transfer fee has not been disclosed by either Chelsea or Real Madrid, I can reveal it is approximately Â£41m with add ons and bonus payments. Chelsea paid Brighton & Hove Albion Â£63million four years ago.

Jose Mourinho has wasted no time bringing in players to the Bernabeu after succeeding the sacked Alvaro Arbeloa only two months ago. Deals for Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate, Inter Milan’s Denzil Dumfries and Manchester City’s Bernado Silva have already sold their services to Mourinho for next season.

Cucurella’s agents were approached by Manchester City and Barcelona but he made it clear he wanted to join Real Madrid.

Alonso’s new challenge as Cucurella heads for Madrid Xabi Alonso has expressed his disappointment that Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella has agreed to join Real Madrid after the World Cup. The Spanish international is not considered one of Chelsea’s “untouchables” which includes Cole Palmer and Reece James but his

departure does give Alonso a full back problem and a gap Chelsea have to fill. At the moment he is considering Jorrel Hato as his best left back option.

Cucurella’s agents were approached by Manchester City and Barcelona but he made it clear he wanted to join Real Madrid.

TOP SOMALIAN REFEREE TO OFFICIATE ASTON VILLA VS PSG

Somali referee Omar Artan is one of the best in the world. The USA’s refusal to allow him to enter the country in order to take part in the World Cup has been criticised as a terrible injustice.

In order to try and make up for the controversial decision, UEFA have appointed the 34-year-old to officiate Aston Villa’s game against Paris Saint-Germain in the Europa League winners versus the Champions League winners in Salzburg on August 12th. He officiated the second leg of the 2025-26 CAF Champions League final and received the CAF Men’s Referee of the Year award. He was then included in the 52 officials taking charge of World Cup matches but has been denied taking part as the first Somali referee to ever officiate in the competition.

EDWARDS SHOCKED AS WOLVES SHOWS HIM THE EXIT DOOR

If a club suffers relegation it is normally the manager who pays the price. And so it is at Wolves where Rob Edwards has been sacked after only eight months in charge. Portuguese club Gil Vicente’s coach Cesar Primeira will take over and tasked with getting the midland’s club back into the Premier League in his first season.

Edwards won only five matches from 30 in the Premier League and finished bottom and 21 points from safety. Edwards is said to be shocked by his dismissal as was his coaching staff who will also leave the club. Wolves admitted that he had been employed during one of the most difficult periods of the club’s history but they now need a different approach in order to remain competitive.

UNITED TAKE ON TOUGH PRE-SEASON OPPOSITION

Manchester United will face AC Milan in a pre-season friendly match in Poland.

The Reds have a packed summer of pre-season matches and the most important along with Milan are against Atletico Madrid in Stockholm, Sweden on August 1st and Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg a week later. United face Premier League side Leeds in Dublin on August 12th and then the Milan game which will be one week before the start of next season.

WHY EVERTON HAS TO BURNLEY 40 MILLION EUROS

Many readers have contacted me to ask why Everton has to pay Burnley Â£40million and will it affect their transfer plans this summer?

In 2023 Everton were found guilty of breaking Profitability and Sustainability rules which Burnley claim, and an Independent Premier League commission agreed with them, that overspending and not adhering to the rules gave Everton a clear advantage in remaining in the elite league whilst Burnley themselves were relegated. It includes the 2021-22 season. Everton finished with 39 points that season and Burnley were four points behind them.

Burnley argued that if Everton’s eventual six point penalty punishment was applied during that season it would have been Everton who were relegated and not Burnley. Losing TV rights and commercial income cost Burnley financially they claim.

Manager David Moyes said this week that he did not expect the payment to Burnley would affect the club’s intention or ability to bring in fresh talent to his squad because the Friedkin Group, who bought the club from Farhad Moshiri, knew about the problem before they took over Everton.

RASHFORD OF INTEREST TO BAYERN MUNICH

I am told that Barcelona are not planning to take up their option to buy Marcus Rashford which expired this week. Various rumours coming out of the Nou Camp point to the possibility of Barca reviewing their decision later in the transfer window. The Catalan giants would however want another loan deal but Manchester United, who own Marcus, have rejected that scenario.

The Red Devils are anxious to sell Rashford outright so they can remove his Â£325,000 a week salary from their wages bill. Arsenal have looked at the situation and are thinking about a deal to swap the winger for Gabriel Martinelli. Bayern Munich are desperate to sign a top performer to challenge Luis Diaz on their left wing. They failed to sign Anthony Gordon from Newcastle and he is now at Barcelona. Unfortunately they then went after Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha but were strongly refused. Bayern are therefore preparing an opening bid of Â£21million for 28-year-old Rashford but they know this will be rejected and United will want at least another Â£10million.

TYLER ADAMS IMPRESSES ON THE WORLD STAGE

The World Cup gives players the opportunity to sell themselves on the biggest stage in football and Manchester United have been very impressed with the USA’s Tyler Adams.

He controlled midfield during the 4-0 win over Paraguay and the Bournemouth man has been compared to Manchester City’s Rodri. Several people at Old Trafford claim Adams could be a future Ballon d’Or winner.

The one manager who knows Adams very well and is praised with improving the midfielder’s pace, energy and skills is Adoni Iraola. He was the coach at Bournemouth and is a great admirer of the 27-year-old. In the USA’s World Cup opener against Paraguay he completed 52 of his 59 passes, nine went into the final third of the field, he cleared the ball four times, made two interceptions and recovered the ball for the Americans three times and won seven out of 10 one on one ground duels.

United have already brought in Ederson and are seriously looking at Mateus Fernandes who will be leaving relegated West Ham, Sandro Tonali of Newcastle, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba, Bournemouth’s Alex Scott and Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni. The Old Trafford scouts are having a very busy holiday period during this summer!

– Ends

Published On:

Jun 21, 2026 15:14 IST