Of all the new arrivals into the Premier League this season, perhaps the most exciting is that of Louis van Gaal, who takes charge at Manchester United.
His critics may point out that his significant club accomplishments over the past decade are one league title at Bayern Munich and another at AZ Alkmaar, but the World Cup and the progress of his Netherlands team to the semi-final with a young squad showed that Van Gaal remains Van Gaal.
He is 63, but age has not mellowed him: he remains brick-faced and combative, perpetually furious at the universe for failing to amend itself to his will. There will be spats and ructions, fury and thunder, but it looks as though there will also be a 3-5-2 formation and a swift, dynamic form of football.
No one would appoint Van Gaal to take over a city somebody else had built, but he may be the ideal man to create something radical and new from the ruins of last season.
Winning the International Challenge Cup, as United did on their tour of the United States, may ultimately be meaningless – and it will certainly be forgotten in a month if they start the season badly – but it did seem like a statement of intent: this is a new era.
Van Gaal’s reputation goes before him, but the events in the US gave him added legitimacy.
Van Gaal’s reign, though, is not just about United. He is possessed of pathological self-belief, willing to take on anybody.
He has never attempted to soothe anybody else’s ego: you do it his way or you do not do it at all. The sense was that David Moyes, his predecessor, as he sought to establish himself, avoided confrontation, with Wayne Rooney in particular.
Van Gaal will not do that. How Rooney responds will be fascinating: it may be disastrous, but it may be that a stern approach is just what is needed for him to deliver on the promise he showed a decade ago. But Van Gaal is not the only source of interest in the dugouts.
Jose Mourinho has, for the first time in his career, gone two seasons without winning a trophy.
Having told everybody last season that the team he was reshaping had no chance of winning the league he was eventually proved right, but, after the rebuilding work he has done, there will have to be a more sustained challenge this time round.
Manuel Pellegrini, understated and undemonstrative, became the first non-European to win the Premier League, but Manchester City will need to improve if they are to retain their title.
Arsene Wenger seems rejuvenated as the financial shackles have started to be released at Arsenal.
Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez face having to maintain the promise of last season on Merseyside. Mauricio Pochettino has the task of unleashing the potential at Tottenham Hotspur.
This season’s managerial soap opera should be better than ever.
Manchester City
When City won the title in 2012, their problem the following season was an apparent lack of hunger.
Maybe it is too early for observations to have weight, but there was a strange lethargy about them in their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield that suggested the problem might be about to reoccur.
Pellegrini needs to prevent that from happening, while also making more of a challenge in the Uefa Champions League, to which end he has added strength in the middle of the pitch, adding Fernando and Eliquim Mangala from Porto.
The battle for the goalkeeping spot, between Joe Hart and the Argentine Willy Caballero, could be a telling subplot.
Chelsea
The London club’s biggest deficiency last season was the absence of what Mourinho, at the height of his frustration, termed “a real centre-forward”.
Their record against teams at the top of the table was excellent, but they dropped home points against West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Norwich City and Sunderland, undone by their inability to turn possession into chances and goals against teams who defended deep and in numbers.
The arrival of Diego Costa should help correct that, while Chelsea’s other summer signings have addressed clear flaws.
Cesc Fabregas should add dynamism and creativity to a midfield that was at times functional last season, while the arrival of the left-back Filipe Luis, which allows Cesar Azpilicueta to return to right-back, offers cover across the back line.
Liverpool
Although Liverpool have been as active as anybody in the transfer market this summer, the big news for them, clearly, has been the loss of Luis Suarez.
In the long-term, the £60 million (Dh294.4m) raised by his sale could help Rodgers construct the depth of squad that allows Liverpool to compete both in the Premier League and in Europe.
It would be little surprise though if a short-term drop in form were to be shown, even if they excelled in beating Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in a friendly on Sunday.
The arrival of Dejan Lovren should help solidify the back line, although the issue with the defence last season was at least as much to do with a lack of cover at the back of midfield as it was personnel.
Arsenal
The mood could hardly be more different to a year ago,
When Arsenal lost 3-1 to Aston Villa on the opening day of last season, there was open mutiny at the Emirates and calls for Wenger to be sacked. Landing Alexis Sanchez has enhanced the mood of optimism that began with the signing of Mesut Ozil last season and has been stoked further by victory in the FA Cup final.
With Joel Campbell back after three years on loan and Yaya Sanogo starting to fulfil his potential, Wenger has far more attacking options this season. Their problem again could be at the back of midfield, where Mathieu Flamini remains the only destroyer. Arsenal were overrun at Chelsea, City and Liverpool last season and the pattern could be repeated.
Everton
Roberto Martinez’s problem is that it is hard to imagine Everton playing better this season than last.
Finishing fifth was a remarkable achievement, but to improve and qualify for the Champions League would be miraculous, particularly with a Europa League campaign to contend with.
The signing of the Belgian centre-forward Romelu Lukaku for a club-record fee of £28m, though, is a statement of intent: this is a club that is looking to establish itself among the elite rather than selling off their brightest stars.
The likes of Ross Barkley, Jon Stones and Seamus Coleman could have yielded a healthy profit; the fact they have all stayed says much for Everton’s ambition.
Tottenham Hotspur
After last season’s upheaval, this has been a relatively quiet summer at White Hart Lane, which is probably no bad thing.
There was a sense last season that the £80m yielded by the sale of Gareth Bale had been rather wasted, but the seven players brought in are still there and it may be that, under Mauricio Pochettino, they can find a way of playing together.
Perhaps significantly, the club’s record signing Erik Lamela, who started only three league matches last season, was involved in all five of Spurs’ pre-season friendies, being named as man of the match in two of them.
His quality is not in doubt and after injuries and his struggles to settle, it may be that having a compatriot as coach can get the best out of him.
Manchester United
There has been a strange giddiness about United in pre-season, the result of the arrival of Van Gaal and a string of impressive results in friendlies.
There is a greater sense of purpose about them: Van Gaal’s insistence that every player began with a clean slate seems to have them focused.
Certainly, Jonny Evans, Tom Cleverley and, in a left wing-back role, Ashley Young, have had fine pre-seasons.
But United’s signings have been a little underwhelming.
Ander Herrera is a fine player and should facilitate a switch to a three-man central midfield but gifted as Luke Shaw is, he is a teenage left-back and there is probably need of at least one central midfielder and one central defender before United can again be considered realistic title challengers.
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