Man Utd flop and Arsenal victim among six Premier League stars ‘like new signings’ in 2024/2025

ScoreLive July 22, 2024 0

We’re knee deep in transfer window shenanigans and while this lot aren’t new signings they will feel like they are having barely played last season.

They provided little impact last term but could prove crucial in 2024/2025. Or not, like many actual new signings.

Mason Mount (Manchester United)
Described as a “superb player” by Kylian Mbappe on the back of his starring role in Chelsea’s run to Champions League glory in 2021 as he prepared to play a big hand for England at the Euros, three years later Mount is currently on a pre-season tour with Manchester United – who neither need nor want him after a debut campaign which yielded one goal and no assists in 14 Premier League appearances – and has never been further from the Three Lions reckoning. Life comes at you fast.

Aston Villa and Tottenham are both supposedly interested in Mount, but he’s shown in pre-season that he’s still got the energy and zip in his game that had Erik ten Hag interested in the first place. The key, obviously, is trying to find a spot for him in the team alongside Bruno Fernandes. Easier said than done, which they probably should have realised last summer.

Stefan Bajcetic (Liverpool)
Impossible to suggest Arne Slot should be targeting a new defensive midfielder as a replacement for Fabinho without several Liverpool fans shouting STEFAN BAJCETIC in your face. Slightly odd that they should use the 19-year-old in rebuttal rather than Wataru Endo, who shone in the vast majority of the games he played last season, but anyway, Bajcetic is their chosen hill to die on.

He’s The New Steven Gerrard or The New Xabi Alonso depending on who’s singing his praises, and the teenager certainly showed some quality when Liverpool were bereft of it at the start of 2023 before being hit by an injury at the end of that season before a further problem kept him out for the majority of 23/24.

Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
Billed as the solution to Chelsea’s goalscoring woes in the first half of last season, Nkunku played very little part in the Blues’ improvement in front of goal in the second half. Cole Palmer did the legwork as the £52m signing from RB Leipzig started just two Premier League games in his debut campaign.

Despite his limited game time there was enough to suggest – in an admittedly very weak field – that Nkunku could prove to be the most natural finisher in the squad, in that he doesn’t lose his head entirely when faced with the frame of the goal, a la Nicolas Jackson, whom we love by the way, but for reasons removed from his goalscoring instincts.

A fine header on debut against Wolves and an excellent finish as a consolation against Liverpool offer hope for Chelsea fans that Nkunku could be a long-term answer; Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana could also feel like new signings for Chelsea, who will be desperate to avoid further injury problems next term.

Jurrien Timber (Arsenal)
Easy to forget given Arsenal’s current chase of a centre-back who can also play at full-back that they also signed a centre-back who can also play at full-back last summer. And the Gunners’ attempts to sign Riccardo Califiori – which by all accounts look likely to be fruitful – is further bad news for Timber after a debut Premier League season consisting of just 70 Premier League minutes during the first and last games of the campaign.

Timber began last term at left-back, the obvious spot for Califiori to slot into the team, and if he doesn’t beat the Italian to a starting berth then Timber will have to displace one of Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba or Ben White; a tall order given their form in 2023/24. Hard to see him being much more than a decent option from the bench, but then squads win titles.

TRANSFER FEATURES FROM F365
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Manor Solomon (Tottenham)
A player we genuinely forgot Spurs signed last summer who played a reasonably significant role in their fine start under Ange Postecoglou and the title contender posturing before the collapse against Chelsea.

Solomon featured in five of their opening seven games, starting two of them and claiming a brace of assists in the 5-2 thrashing of Burnley, slaloming through their defence on more than one occasion to suggest he could have quite the impact for Spurs before a meniscus injury kept him out from October.

Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)
A stunning Premier League debut and goal in the 5-1 spanking of Aston Villa had us all drooling before Newcastle’s performances dropped off in line with Tonali’s in consecutive defeats to Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton. We questioned whether our eulogising over the midfielder was kneejerky in the extreme as Eddie Howe dropped him to the bench for three of the next four games before we all found out why he had been quite so poor.

The Italian has now served his betting ban and returns to less competition for a starting spot following Elliot Anderson’s £35m move to Nottingham Forest. And Newcastle will certainly need him as PSR rules probably dictate they won’t be buying a replacement.