Ilkay Gundogan's Man City move proof of big clubs' prepping for title fight

The second shot of the summer transfer window has been fired, and it's a big one. After Arsenal landed themselves Granit Xhaka for £30 million, Manchester City captured Ilkay Gundogan for just £21 million. Once again, the Bundesliga profits from Premier League largesse.
Jose Mourinho isn't hanging around, either. He has yet to make his first signing for the club but issued a resounding statement of intent this week by pulling out of a much publicised charity football match to concentrate on his new role. The European Championships are only a week away, but at England's biggest clubs, the focus is already on next season.
Over the past 10 years, there have generally been three or four serious title contenders, at most, in every campaign. This year, there might be at least seven -- possibly more. The Manchester clubs are gearing up for war already. Their new managers are in place, and the new players will follow. This is just the start for them.
Gundogan is a fine signing, the perfect tonic for Man City's underwhelming midfield. He's a perfect, off-the-rack purchase. At 26, he's in the prime of his career: not so young that he needs to learn too much, not so old that he'll be ready for MLS before the next World Cup. He's two-footed and possesses an engine powerful enough to cope with the unrelenting pace of English football. He's adept enough to play the killer quick pass, talented enough to split the defence with a long pass and smart enough to know which one to choose.
On top of all that, Gundogan is as good at breaking up an opposition attack as he is at starting one of his own. Assuming he recovers completely from his knee injury, he is likely to prove as dynamic as Yaya Toure used to be. He will revitalise City.
Whatever your concerns about Mourinho's abilities or manner fitting at Man United, it's hard to argue that he won't improve on the stodge left to him by Louis van Gaal. Although there are well-founded fears that he'll do the bulk of his shopping with his own agent, the ubiquitous Jorge Mendes, it's not as if Mendes doesn't provide access to some fairly good footballers. There will be trauma, there will be strife and there might not be a very happy third season. But you'd fancy the first season to be a belter.
Manchester isn't the only city where the great houses are preparing for battle. Arsenal, for all that we poke fun at them, were not that far off the pace last season. Far enough for Xhaka alone to be too small an improvement to make the difference, but not so far that a better defender and a better striker wouldn't complete the picture. Up the Seven Sisters Road, it will be fascinating to see how Mauricio Pochettino augments his impressive young Spurs side.
Liverpool need some serious structural work, particularly at the back, but if Jurgen Klopp can build on a promising start and take advantage of what could be a very light diary, who knows what they could achieve? Then there's Leicester, still surprising casual fans by being the actual champions, even though they've worn the crown for almost a month now. After all the heroics, you'd still expect them to fall away next season ... but we've all been wrong on that count before. If Leicester can win it, what about Southampton and West Ham, both of whom finished above Liverpool and Chelsea last season?

Arsenal's signing of Granit Xhaka is a strong sign that the team is taking the offseason seriously.

Finally, it is still very early in the summer, but you wonder if there is a sense of mounting concern at Chelsea. While everyone else is on the move and frantically retooling for another campaign, incoming manager Antonio Conte has his hands full in France, with a less than convincing Italian national team. There are other spheres of influence at Stamford Bridge, of course, people who will be willing and able to do the running in the crowded transfer market, but that has often been more of a hinderance than a help in the past.
There's no real positive spin for Chelsea when Conte's international duty ends. If he is able to start work before the end of June, it will be only because Italy crashed out in the group stages of an international tournament for the third time in four attempts, which won't reflect well on him. If Italy surpass expectations and perform well, however, Conte won't be able to start work at Cobham until mid-July, and perhaps more pertinently, he won't have a chance to rest and recharge his batteries. Chelsea need some serious work. Partly because they were so awful last year but mostly because this is going to be an extraordinary season.
In the past, an impressive display in an international tournament often led to a big money move. A European Championship has been the catalyst for a promising career. But from the looks of these first postseason weeks, those days are long gone.
This isn't exclusive to the big clubs, either. Thanks to that new TV deal, everyone in the Premier League has serious money on the table. The likes of Bournemouth and Sunderland can match the wages of all but the richest of the European superpowers. If we have learned one thing this week, it's that there is no room for complacency. There is little to be gained by hanging around. August is coming, and everyone wants to be ready.