Haaland

There is jeopardy in fresh forward lines and that is where the initial fascination of this season's Premier League title race lies.

But in the rejigging of forward lines there is an element of jeopardy and it is in that uncertainty that the initial fascination of this season’s title race lies. Díaz was widely seen as having assimilated quickly but was ineffective in the Champions League final, though, and there must have been concerns about the way that Mané’s move into the centre seemed to impinge on Mohamed Salah’s form in the second half of last season. The problem is that the circumstance in which it perhaps doesn’t work is against the very best sides in the very biggest games and, by definition, there are very few of them, meaning the data set is necessarily slight. Perhaps the two can add improvisation that will raise City to greater heights, but it is a risk. He has scored 78 league goals over the past three seasons; he himself has spoken of watching City and imagining how many goals he would score just like the one he got 12 minutes into his first appearance for the club, a friendly against Bayern, jabbing in a low cross from close range. As City look to make it five Premier League titles in six seasons, a level of dominance in English football achieved only twice before, by Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United between 1995-96 and 2000-01 and Liverpool’s run from 1978-79 to 1983-84, Haaland is this summer’s most significant signing.