Four desirable Premier League managers are out of contract next summer and three have voiced transfer concerns. Oliver Glasner could get his Thomas Frank move.
It is fitting that this landmark summer for high-priced transfers between Premier League clubs was preceded by a manager moving between English top-flight sides at great expense.
Thomas Frank was the harbinger of Premier League experience becoming the sport’s most desired commodity, even with the eponymous tax applied.
It was the single common denominator between the four individuals on that hilariously unimaginative Spurs manager shortlist. And with Frank removed, the rest are entering definitive years for their careers and clubs.
Andoni Iraola, Oliver Glasner and Marco Silva’s contracts all expire in 2026. Those deals, along with that of Vitor Pereira at Wolves, are the closest to expiration in the entire Premier League. Yet with the season approaching, their clubs have arguably had the most underwhelming summer transfer windows of any.
“Even though all the players are still here, we haven’t made the most of the transfer window so far,” Glasner said this week. “I was promised that we would be more active and bring in the new players earlier this year.
He continued, in echoes of another revealing interview he gave to the Austrian press last year when voicing similar concerns: “As of now, I have 17 outfield players. I hope we don’t lose any more. If that happens and we get four new ones on deadline day like last year, another false start is possible.”
When Glasner implored Palace to “learn from the past and get the deals done quickly” in May, he likely hoped for more than a back-up keeper and second-choice left-back to be delivered for a combined £2m two days before August ahead of a Thursday-Sunday European campaign slog.
It is not quite Tony Pulis leaving by mutual consent less than 48 hours before the start of a season because Steve Parish would not relent and sign Peter Crouch and Matthew Etherington; Palace do historically leave their business relatively late and have been keeping an eye on outgoings. But it seems an unnecessary risk to irritate your greatest ever manager by breaking “promises” and repeating the same mistakes which almost led to him being sacked.
Glasner specifically cited the club’s four deadline day arrivals in a tournament summer, robbing them of vital pre-season preparation time, for their low start on a number of occasions last season. His ability to overcome those issues through phenomenal coaching should not be squeezed in the same way Palace exploited Roy Hodgson’s expertise in keeping them afloat regardless of what was spent and who was signed.
Perhaps it is a side effect of the weight of a trophy drought being lifted. Spurs have failed to take advantage of the position Europa League victory provided themmuch to Frank’s presumed chagrin. But Palace have a glaring need to do much more.
They have outspent only Fulham, whose £437,000 outlay on 34-year-old keeper Benjamin Lecomte might not have convinced supporters the club is ready to push on after the near misses of last season.
The Cottagers were 8th in the Premier League and in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup coming out of the season’s final international break. Both routes in Europe were blocked off within weeks as their inconsistency and lack of squad depth hurt them.
It can only be assumed at this stage that Silva lives for the thrill of seeing who his employers have lined up on deadline day deal sheets, and exactly when Willian will walk back through the door as a free agent.
There is something to be said for standing still but Fulham have been entirely stagnant and inactive this summer to the point of absurdity.
They have at least not yet sold their best player. Bournemouth build that eventuality into their philosophy as a stepping stone club and the only thing which made Dean Huijsen’s exit more inevitable than his release clause was the emergence of Real Madrid as a suitor.
“It gives the club time now in the market also to prepare for next season,” Iraola said when Huijsen’s £50m sale was confirmed in mid-May. By late July the Spaniard reiterated that “probably now our focus is in the centre-back position,” with only a Milos Kerkez replacement and new goalkeeper secured.
Iraola himself acknowledged that replacing a player of the calibre of Huijsen would not be easy but for a club which identifies itself as that finishing school of sorts, time has passed and opportunities have been missed.
Antoine Semenyo’s new contract was an undoubted boost but Bournemouth have taken their foot off the accelerator at the wrong time. It is thought that the Cherries will wait until the transfer window is closed before commencing contract talks with Iraola, yet their business has been far from persuasive.
A meeting with Liverpool on the opening weekend might come sooner than they had wished; Wolves could say the same ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Molineux the following day.
When Wolves then converge on Bournemouth the next week to renew hostilities in the Gary O’Neil derby they might do well to compare transfer notes ahead of the deadline.
“My ambition is to be mid-table and not always worry about the bottom spots,” said Vitor Pereira during the club’s pre-season tour of Portugal.
“I want to look up. But right now, we’ve lost Cunha, we’ve lost Ait-Nouri, one to Manchester United and one to Manchester City, two very important players for us.
“I want to prepare a team to start the championship competitively, but at this point, that hasn’t been possible. I hope that in the coming days there will be news about bringing in players to improve the quality of the squad.”
Wolves have at least been creative in gambling on Fer Lopez and Jhon Arias for a combined £34m or so – clubs in their position in the food chain have to – while making Jorgen Strand Larsen’s loan permanent, but one of the more shallow squads in the Premier League still needs a right-back, left-back, midfielder and forward even before considering improving their starting XI.
Pereira is not one to keep his opinions to himself and if he is dealt the sort of hand which compelled Julen Lopetegui to leave the net spend title contenders ahead of a new campaign, Wolves might be on the lookout for another new coach.
It feels like a good time to be an ambitious, overachieving manager in the soft, malleable, interchangeable midriff of the Premier League, especially on a contract within 12 months of expiration at a team unwilling or unable to match that drive.
Iraola, Glasner, Silva and Pereira seem to hold all the cards; play them right and they could get their own Frank career move.
