The Premier League kicks off in three weeks and five clubs have new men in the dugout. One of them has spent more than the GDP of a small island nation. Another has done absolutely nothing — not one single transfer, not even a loan. The gap between the haves and have-nots among this summer's managerial appointments is already so wide you could drive a double-decker bus through it. Here's who's winning the summer, who's losing, and who might not make it to Christmas.
Nobody does a rebuild like Tottenham when they're terrified of falling further behind. De Zerbi arrived from Brighton with a reputation for tactical complexity and a list of demands that would make Daniel Levy's accountant weep. Levy, remarkably, said yes to all of them.
Sandro Tonali came in from Newcastle for £92.5 million. Mateus Fernandes followed from West Ham for £85 million — a fee that raised eyebrows until you remember this is the same league where Morgan Rogers just went for £117 million. Jan Paul van Hecke, De Zerbi's old center-back at Brighton, arrived for £52 million. Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi joined on frees. Martin Dubravka came in as backup goalkeeper. Six players. A completely rebuilt spine. And not a single departure of note.
The ambition is staggering. The risk is equally staggering. De Zerbi's Brighton played football that made purists weep — but they also conceded goals in bunches when the system broke. Tottenham's squad has been assembled at warp speed with players who've never played together, in a system that takes months to learn. The opening fixtures: Liverpool away, then Chelsea at home. If Spurs start with two losses, the discourse turns toxic before September.
You have to respect the audacity. Arbeloa, the former Liverpool defender who won two Champions Leagues as a player and managed Real Madrid's Castilla side, walked into Craven Cottage and apparently decided the squad he inherited was perfect. Not a single signing. Not even a loan with an option. Nothing.
This is either supreme confidence or a quiet acknowledgment that Fulham's budget is being spent elsewhere — specifically, on Arbeloa's contract. Either way, it's the strangest managerial appointment of the summer. Fulham finished 14th last season. They weren't bad. They weren't good. They were Fulham — aggressively mid-table, occasionally dangerous, frequently forgettable. The squad needs a refresh, especially in wide areas and at the back.
Arbeloa clearly believes he can coach improvement out of what's already there. Maybe he can. But when every other club in the bottom half is spending, standing still is the same as moving backwards. If Fulham are in the relegation zone by November, the first question won't be about tactics. It'll be about why nobody was signed.
Sage won the UEFA Conference League with Palace in May. He took over mid-season, stabilized a talented squad, and delivered the club's first European trophy. Now he gets a full summer and a preseason — and he's used it to sign exactly one player.
Oscar Mingueza, a 27-year-old defender from Celta Vigo, is the lone arrival. That's it. No midfield reinforcements. No striker competition for Jean-Philippe Mateta. Palace are betting that continuity trumps spending. It's a bet that paid off for Oliver Glasner when he first arrived — but Glasner eventually hit a ceiling when the squad depth couldn't sustain two competitions.
Sage faces the same test. Conference League football means Thursday-Sunday schedules. The squad that won in May will be stretched thinner than ever. One injury to Eberechi Eze or Michael Olise and the whole thing unravels.
O'Neil has done what promoted managers are supposed to do: he's been busy. Abdul Fatawu arrived from Leicester, bringing Premier League experience and genuine pace. Emersonn became the first Brazilian to ever play for Ipswich — a 22-year-old striker with six Ligue 1 goals for Toulouse last season. Goalkeeper Kayne van Oevelen came in from the Eredivisie. Defender Diop added 173 Premier League appearances of know-how. Cedric Kipre and Chuba Akpom made their loans permanent.
It's not flashy. It won't dominate the back pages. But it's smart. O'Neil knows Ipswich won't outspend anyone, so he's targeting players with something to prove — Fatawu's Leicester were relegated twice, Emersonn is unknown outside France, van Oevelen kept only three clean sheets in 32 games. These are gambles, but they're calculated ones.
Glasner walked into the strangest situation of any new manager. Forest sold Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for £116 million — a British record at the time before Rogers broke it days later — and replaced him with Xaver Schlager on a free transfer from RB Leipzig. One world-class midfielder out, one Austrian international in. On paper, it's a downgrade. In reality, it might be the most Forest thing ever.
Schlager is good. He captained RB Leipzig, started all four of Austria's World Cup matches, won four Austrian Bundesliga titles with Salzburg. He's not Anderson — nobody is — but he's a leader and a stabilizer. Glasner wants to shift Forest to a 3-4-3, which demands wing-backs and athletic center-halves. The squad wasn't built for it. The summer hasn't addressed it.
The Anderson sale smells like a higher-up decision — the kind of move a club makes when the offer is too big to refuse and the manager gets a phone call rather than a consultation. Glasner's real test won't be the first game. It'll be the first time Forest lose three in a row and the fans start doing the math on what £116 million could have bought if it had been reinvested.
Five managers. Five completely different realities. De Zerbi has been handed the keys to a sports car he didn't pay for. Arbeloa is being asked to win a Formula 1 race in a family sedan. The gap between the top and bottom of this managerial class isn't about talent — it's about trust. Spurs trusted De Zerbi with £237 million. Fulham trusted Arbeloa with... a training ground and some cones.
The question that'll define the 2026-27 season isn't who spent the most. It's which of these appointments was actually about the manager, and which was about the price tag. Because in the Premier League, you don't get time. You get results. And by Christmas, at least one of these five will be looking for a new job.
Smart money says it won't be De Zerbi. But smart money has been wrong before.
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