Barclays Premier League Recap

By: Matthew Behrndt

The Barclays Premier League has grown immensely over the past 20 years. One main judge of that growth is the new TV deal that they just signed through the 2019 season earlier this year. This league, by far is the most popular and definitely the most profitable out of all the leagues around the world just keeps on entertaining the public. This is a recap on what worked and what didn’t in the league as well as who won in the major categories including who got to hold up the cup at the end of the year.

In soccer a main part of building and sustaining success is how well you use the transfer window. For those who are not familiar, there are two windows in which teams can exchange players. One of the windows is from June 9th through September 1st which is before the season starts as well as into the first couple of games in the season. The second window is during the month of January, which is in the middle of the season and is usually the slower of the two.

During these transfer windows a lot of players are moved but a select few are bought then brought in to help the team right away. Let’s do both the summer and winter and talk about the biggest transfers that occurred during the season and the impact that happened.

Arsenal: They spent a lot of money during the summer window with a majority of that money going to Alexis Sanchez who went for 42.5 million euros. They also acquired Danny Welbeck and Calum Chambers for around 20 million each. What did these moves do for them? Well it helped Arsenal propel themselves from 4th last year to 3rd this year. This is significant because it means they automatically reach the group stage for the Champions League, which is the biggest tournament in the world held every year.

Chelsea: This team is also big spenders with lots of money from the owners. They went out and bought some big name players. They spent 33 milion euros on Cesc Fabregas and 38 million euros of Diego Costa. In the winter transfer window they paid 38 millon euros for Juan Cuadrado. Also a a sentimental addition, they brought back a hero for Chelsea fans in Didier Drogba. These three main players really helped bolster their already strong team and helped them reach the ultimate goal in the Premier League, which is to host the trophy above your head.

Liverpool: This team with already high expectations went out and spent a lot of money as well. They got four players with price tags above 20 million euros which included Mario Balotelli, Dejan Lovern, Lazar Markovic, and Adam Lallana. In the end the gamble with this big money left much to be desired as the ended up finishing 6th, which is really bad considering they finished 2nd last year, making it a long-shot that they qualify for the Euro League and no shot at qualifying for the Champions League.

Manchester City: Usually this club is a big spender during the window. Not to say 112 million euros isn’t a lot of money, but it’s not the usual we see from them. Their main acquisitions were for Eliaquim Mangala, a defender in which they paid 54 million euros and Wilfred Boney a striker. This big money spent on this player ended up not helping them keep their title as champions as they fell to Chelsea finishing 2nd in the table.

Manchester United: This is the richest club in the league and they spend a lot of money as well. They spent a total of 186 million euros, the most by any team this year in the Premier League. The main reason they spent that much money was because of one player that cost them 75 million euros, this player is Angel Di Maria. This big investment paid off in the end because they went from 7th last year to finishing 4th this year which qualifies them for Champions League play.

Dramatic Finish (At the bottom of the page you can see the full standings)

This year seemed as if the winner was already decided beginning in week one. Chelsea who are always one of the favorites to win each year dominated from start to finish. They ended up winning the league by eight points which is a very large margin. Most years we see the final results determined on the final Sunday of the season. Even though the winner of the league was known for a while there was still some drama on the final day of the league. The main battle that was one to watch was between Tottenham and Liverpool. Both of these teams were fighting for a secured spot in the Euro League. Liverpool just needed a win in order to secure their spot but failed to do so as they got throttled 6-1 against Sunderland leaving the door wide open for Tottenham to take the 5th spot in the table. Tottenham took full advantage of this opportunity as they won 1-0 against Everton leaving lots of disappointed Liverpool fans as they were projected to be competing for the cup this year after a solid year last year. Also there was drama at the bottom of the table as the bottom three teams are competing so they don’t get relegated to the lower league. There were four teams battling to stay out of the bottom three which already had two spots taken by QPR and Burnley. The four teams were Newcastle, Hull City, Aston Villa and Sunderland.

Newcastle, which last year finished 10th in the table, just needed a win to make sure they were not involved in the chase for the bottom three. They got that win in a 2-0 final against West Ham that was sure to relieve a lot of scared Newcastle fans. Hull City which really needed a win to have a fighting chance in not getting relegated, ended up with a 0-0 draw with Manchester United which meant they had no chance of not being relegated and unfortunately fell into the bottom three and will be playing in the Football League Championship next year instead of the Premier League.

Awards

Every year the Premier League gives out awards based on who scored the most goals, who was the best player, and other awards similar to that hear is a full list of award winner and the team of the year.

Player of the Year: Eden Hazard
Young Player of the Year: Harry Cane
Golden Boots: Sergio Aguero
Golden Gloves: Joe Hart
Manager of the Year: Jose Mourinho