Transfer Deadline Day 2026: Have Arsenal's rivals done enough in window to challenge?

Manchester City have undergone heavy transition, from manager Pep Guardiola being replaced after 10 years by Enzo Maresca, to the departure of key figures in their glory years such as Rodri, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Jack Grealish, as well as Savio, Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzales, James Trafford, Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders.

The burning ambition remains, however, as proved by the manner in which they have attacked the market to replenish their squad for a title tilt.

City paid £125m – equalling the British transfer record - to reunite former Chelsea manager Maresca with Enzo Fernandez, having already paid £116m to sign England midfielder Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest.

And further quality arrived in the shape of Iliman Ndiaye from Everton for £65m, the brilliant Morocco 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi, who cost £85.6m from Lille, as well as Allan Elias from Palmeiras in Brazil.

It amounts to quite the rebuild, with the Fernandez deal taking City's spending to a Premier League record £458m for a single transfer window, surpassing Liverpool's £415m from last summer.

However, City have also achieved around £300m worth of player sales this summer, illustrating the vast turnover at the start of the post-Guardiola era.

An eventful window but one that leaves City, who still have so much class elsewhere, in good shape to mount a serious challenge.

Liverpool's main task this summer after appointing Andoni Iraola to replace sacked Arne Slot, was to somehow compensate for what they would miss without Mohamed Salah after he left Anfield at the end of last season.

Bradley Barcola was the prime target and eventually signed from Paris Saint-Germain for £123m. He possesses lightning pace, creativity and goals, but he is not a like-for-like replacement for Salah, preferring to operate on the left.

Victor Munoz, a member of Spain's World Cup-winning squad, is another wide man who has already shown what he can deliver with a spectacular equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Rather than simply replace Salah, Liverpool's strategy has been to find a way to get goals from the wide positions and elsewhere rather that focus on one single player to replace the Egyptian.

All very well – but Liverpool's opening draws against Newcastle United and Forest showed a fault which holed them below the waterline last season has not been addressed.

The lack of a natural number "6" has left a midfield imbalance that leaves them horribly vulnerable to counter-attacks. Teams can still run straight through Liverpool, but Iraola showed no inclination to make a signing in that position.

Can Liverpool cure that tendency to be exposed? This could be the flaw that stops them making amends for their dismal title defence last season.