The Weekly
Soccer Digest

The Great Reshuffle Meets Its First Reckoning

Seven of Europe's biggest clubs changed manager inside a single calendar year. Four games into the new season, the early returns are already brutally uneven.

There is a version of this season that will be written in a year's time as the most consequential managerial turnover in the modern history of the European game, and the remarkable thing is that we are only four matchdays into finding out whether that is true. Pep Guardiola is gone from Manchester City. Jose Mourinho is back at Real Madrid. Arne Slot was dismissed by Liverpool three weeks before the World Cup final and Ruben Amorim, sacked by Manchester United in January, is now standing in the technical area at AC Milan. Almost every door in the sport swung at once.

The scale is easier to grasp in numbers than in names. Between the first day of January and the end of May, the Premier League's traditional big six lost seven managers: six sackings and one voluntary departure, an average of one every twenty-one days. Chelsea alone got through two, dismissing Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day and Liam Rosenior in April before settling on Xabi Alonso, who began work on the first of July. Tottenham Hotspur also burned through two before landing on Roberto De Zerbi. Only Mikel Arteta, in post since December 2019, has watched the whole carousel from a fixed seat.

What makes this week the right moment to take stock is that the evidence has finally started arriving. The Champions League league phase opened on September 8 and the domestic leagues have now played four or five rounds. That is a small sample, and anyone claiming certainty from it is selling something. But it is no longer nothing, and the spread between the best and worst of these appointments is already wider than anybody would have predicted in July.

The best of it, and the worst of it

At the top of that spread sits Enzo Maresca, which is not where most people expected to find him. Handed the hardest inheritance in football, he has taken Manchester City to four wins from four in the Premier League, a 2-0 win at Porto in Europe and a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford, all while presiding over a squad that has been rebuilt around him rather than for him. Rodri, the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner and a World Cup winner with Spain in July, was sold to Barcelona for 65.4 million pounds. Savinho went to Tottenham Hotspur. Tijjani Reijnders went to Al-Qadsiah. Bernardo Silva left for Real Madrid on a free.

In their place came Elliot Anderson for 116 million pounds, Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, and, on the window's final day, Enzo Fernandez for a fee that equalled the British record. It is a total rebuild conducted at full speed, in public, by a manager in his first month.

At the other end sits the season's genuine emergency. Tottenham Hotspur have played four Premier League matches and scored zero goals. Not one. They sit seventeenth with two points and a goal record of nought scored and five conceded, which is the sort of line that normally belongs to a side already cut adrift in April, not one four games into September under a coach hired precisely because he is supposed to make teams play. Roberto De Zerbi arrived from Marseille on March 31 on a long-term deal, with sporting director Johan Lange calling him one of the most creative and forward-thinking coaches in world football. The creativity has not yet shown up on a scoresheet.

“We worked four years in the same structure and we always felt comfortable. Now, we need time.”

Unai Emery, whose Aston Villa won the Europa League in May and have one point from four

Neither a triumph nor a disaster, yet

Between those poles, the picture is genuinely difficult to read. Andoni Iraola, who left Bournemouth for Liverpool in June, has one win and three draws from four: unbeaten, but blunted, and a goalless home afternoon against Fulham did nothing to quiet the question of whether his high-pressing model survives contact with the expectation at Anfield. He did at least win his European opener, edging Atletico Madrid 2-1. Michael Carrick's Manchester United are thirteenth in the league but put four past Sabah in Europe. Matthias Jaissle inherited a Newcastle United side that sold its three best players in a single summer.

And then there is Madrid. Jose Mourinho returned to the Bernabeu on June 11, signing until 2029, sixteen years after he first walked in and three managers after Xabi Alonso left in January. His Real Madrid have twelve points from five, beat Inter 2-1 on the opening night in Europe through Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde, and put four past Rayo Vallecano at the weekend.

They are also, already, three points behind a Barcelona side that has won all five of its league games with a goal difference of plus seventeen. The reshuffle gave Madrid a serial winner. It did not give them a head start.

The honest summary is that the market for managers behaved this year less like a market and more like a panic. Clubs did not so much choose replacements as grab whoever was nearest when the music stopped, and the reason the table already looks strange is that several of them grabbed well and several grabbed badly. The next three months will sort them. What is not in doubt is that the sport has never asked so many new men to answer so many questions at once.

Also in the lead

Europe's Second Tier Opens, and Three English Clubs Step Into the Unknown

The Europa League league phase begins tonight and tomorrow. Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth have never been here in this form, and AC Milan and Juventus would rather not be.

The Europa League returns this evening with the first of its eight league-phase matchdays, and the entry list tells you a great deal about how the last eighteen months have gone for some very large football clubs. AC Milan open at home to Benfica. Juventus host N.E.C. tomorrow. Celtic, Lyon, Marseille, Real Sociedad and Bayer Leverkusen are all here too. This is a deep field by any historical standard.

For the three English entrants it is something closer to genuinely new territory. Sunderland begin at home to AZ Alkmaar tonight, seeded thirty-third of thirty-six and playing continental football for the first time in decades. Crystal Palace host Lech Poznan tomorrow, and Bournemouth, seeded eighth and the best placed of the three, travel to Real Sociedad under Marco Rose, who replaced Andoni Iraola in the summer.

The format rewards consistency over survival. Each of the thirty-six clubs plays eight different opponents, the top eight go straight to the last sixteen, ninth to twenty-fourth drop into a knockout playoff round, and twenty-fifth or lower means elimination from Europe altogether. There is no group to escape and no easy draw to hide behind, which is why a slow start here is far more expensive than it used to be.

The holders are not in the field. Aston Villa won this competition in May, beating SC Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul through Youri Tielemans, Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers for a first trophy in thirty years, and were promoted into the Champions League for their trouble. Two of those three scorers have since been sold. That is a story for the transfer pages, and it is not a happy one.

City Pay the British Record to Undo Their Own Midfield

Enzo Fernandez cost 125 million pounds and reunites with the manager who sold him. Rodri went the other way.

The single largest transaction of the summer was also its strangest. On deadline day, Manchester City paid Chelsea 125 million pounds for Enzo Fernandez, a fee that equals the British record set when Liverpool bought Alexander Isak from Newcastle United in 2025. The Argentine signed a five-year deal. The move was confirmed by Sky Sports, ESPN and Al Jazeera. Status: official.

The symmetry is almost too neat. Enzo Fernandez now plays for Enzo Maresca, the manager who coached him at Stamford Bridge and was sacked by Chelsea on New Year's Day. Chelsea, meanwhile, booked an 18 million pound profit on a player they bought for 107 million three and a half years ago, which is a respectable piece of accounting and an awkward piece of squad-building.

It was awkward because the replacement did not arrive. Chelsea had a 47 million pound deal in place for Lamine Camara when Monaco withdrew from the sale late, leaving Xabi Alonso a midfielder short on the day he lost his most expensive one. Chelsea honoured the Fernandez sale regardless.

Set that against City's other business and a coherent, if severe, logic appears. Rodri was sold to Barcelona for 65.4 million pounds in mid-August after seven years and a World Cup win with Spain. Savinho and Omar Marmoush went to Tottenham Hotspur, the latter initially on loan. Tijjani Reijnders went to Al-Qadsiah for around 52 million pounds and Bernardo Silva left for Real Madrid for nothing at all. In came Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for 116 million pounds, Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for a reported 81 million, and Iliman Ndiaye. City spent roughly 319 million pounds. They also tore out the spine of the most successful English side of the last decade and replaced it with players whose combined age barely reaches the one they sold.

Madrid Build a Spine and Pay For Almost None of It

Two of Jose Mourinho's six signings arrived on free transfers. The one they did pay heavily for cost 140 million euros.

Real Madrid's summer is the clearest demonstration this year of what a club can do when it plans two years ahead of a contract cycle. Ibrahima Konate joined from Liverpool on a free transfer on a four-year deal, a move confirmed by ESPN and Sky Sports. Bernardo Silva arrived from Manchester City, also free, on a two-year deal. Status on both: official.

The paid-for business was substantial. Marc Cucurella came from Chelsea in a deal Sky valued at 51.8 million pounds and Madrid's own books at around 60 million euros, announced by the club on June 15. Denzel Dumfries joined from Inter. And Yan Diomande arrived from RB Leipzig for a reported 140 million euros on a deal to 2033, the second-largest fee of the entire window. Endrick returned from a loan at Lyon.

Out went an era. Dani Carvajal left at the end of his contract after twenty-three seasons at the club. David Alaba also departed as a free agent, and Dani Ceballos left by mutual agreement. Antonio Rudiger signed a one-year extension to 2027.

Newcastle Sold Their Three Best Players, and Say They Would Do It Again

Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon all left in one window. The sporting director is unapologetic.

No club in Europe had a stranger summer than Newcastle United. Sandro Tonali went to Tottenham Hotspur for 92.5 million pounds. Anthony Gordon went to Barcelona for a reported 69.3 million. Bruno Guimaraes, the captain and the emotional centre of the side, went to a Premier League rival for 75 million. The club then spent roughly 295 million pounds rebuilding. Eddie Howe had already gone, replaced by Matthias Jaissle.

What is unusual is not the churn but the candour about it. Sporting director Ross Wilson told reporters that if you want to be a successful club in the Premier League you have to trade players, and that if you do not, you get stuck. He went further, naming Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento as players who may themselves leave in time.

Chief financial officer Simon Capper was equally blunt about the mechanics, explaining that one incoming deal required Nick Woltemade's loan to Juventus to clear the wage space first.

This is profit and sustainability regulation as a design constraint rather than a threat, and it is worth watching closely, because Newcastle are describing openly what several of their rivals do quietly. The early league evidence is inconclusive: twelfth after four, one win, one defeat at home and a trip to face Hull City on Saturday.

Paris Sold an Attack, Bought Another, and Forgot How to Win at Home

Bradley Barcola left for Liverpool in a deal worth up to 123 million pounds. Luis Enrique says he could not promise him a starting place.

Paris Saint-Germain are the reigning European champions and the five-time reigning champions of France. They are also, this morning, seventh in Ligue 1 with five points from four matches. The gap between those two sentences is the most interesting thing in French football.

The squad turnover explains a good deal of it. Bradley Barcola joined Liverpool in a deal reported at up to 123 million pounds including variables. Goncalo Ramos went to AC Milan for around 63.7 million. In came Ferran Torres from Barcelona, among others. Luis Enrique was unusually direct about the Barcola exit, telling reporters that the player's desire was to play a more important role in the side, something the manager could not guarantee him. He called the window exceptional.

The results have not agreed. Paris went four matches without a win, drawing twice from two goals down and losing 2-1 at home to Monaco on September 4, before finally beating Brest 1-0 on Sunday through, appropriately enough, Ferran Torres. Ousmane Dembele, the reigning Ballon d'Or holder, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had gone four games without a goal between them.

Then, on September 9, the same team put six past Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League with a Ferran Torres hat-trick. Whatever is wrong in Paris, it is not the forwards' finishing, and it is probably not permanent. Luis Enrique's own assessment, offered with characteristic serenity, was an invitation to bet on who would be champion at the end of the season.

Premier League

Four matchdays in, the table has two perfect records at the top and a genuine curiosity beneath them. Manchester City are unbeaten with twelve points and won the Manchester derby 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, a result that said as much about Michael Carrick's side as Enzo Maresca's: Manchester United are thirteenth with four points despite Bruno Fernandes playing some of the best football of his career. Behind the leaders, Leeds United and Hull City are third and fourth on eight points apiece, which nobody forecast in August. Daniel Farke's Leeds are unbeaten. Sergej Jakirovic's newly promoted Hull have taken points off Chelsea and Aston Villa already.

The bottom of the table is where the season's real stories are. Tottenham Hotspur have not scored a league goal. Four matches, nought goals, two points, seventeenth, and a 0-0 at home to Everton on Saturday that extended the drought. Aston Villa are nineteenth with one point, which is remarkable for a team that lifted the Europa League in May. Their summer explains most of it: Morgan Rogers sold to Chelsea for 117 million pounds, Youri Tielemans and Ezri Konsa both gone, two of the three scorers from the final in Istanbul now playing elsewhere. Unai Emery has asked for patience, saying after a goalless draw with Hull City that his side deserved more and that he feels the team is progressing.

Reports that the club is weighing Emery's position trace to a single former club scout speaking to Football Insider, and should be treated as exactly that thin. Villa did at least win 3-2 at Club Brugge in the Champions League through John McGinn, Emiliano Buendia and a first goal for Nicolas Jackson.

Below Villa, Coventry City have the worst start of any promoted side in recent memory: four defeats, no points, no goals scored and ten conceded, including a 5-0 home defeat to Brighton on Sunday. Frank Lampard took them up and is discovering how unforgiving the step is. Liverpool sit eighth, unbeaten but drawn three times under Andoni Iraola, the goalless afternoon against Fulham the most telling of them. Brighton have scored thirteen in four, more than anyone. And Fulham are eighteenth with a point under Alvaro Arbeloa, who was managing Real Madrid in January and is now fighting relegation in west London, which may be the single most 2026 sentence in this edition.

La Liga

Barcelona have won all five, scored seventeen, conceded two and lead by three points. Raphinha is the division's top scorer with six. Lamine Yamal scored twice in Sunday's 4-2 win at Levante, where Karim Adeyemi also found the net. This is a side playing with the confidence of a double champion, which is what they are.

Real Madrid are second on twelve, having beaten Rayo Vallecano 4-1 with two from Kylian Mbappe and goals for Alvaro Carreras and Jude Bellingham. Atletico Madrid are quietly excellent, winning 3-0 at Real Sociedad through Alejandro Grimaldo, Jonathan David and Giuliano Simeone. The genuine surprise is Alaves, third on ten points.

The promoted clubs have brought real romance. Racing Santander are back after fourteen years and beat Alaves 2-1. Deportivo La Coruna are back after eight and sit sixth. Malaga, also back after eight, drew at Celta Vigo. At the other end, Valencia have one point from five, which for a club of that history is an alarm rather than a slow start.

Bundesliga

Three matchdays in and Bayern Munich are fourth. Above them, improbably, are SC Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund, both perfect on nine points. Freiburg, beaten Europa League finalists in May, thrashed Borussia Monchengladbach 5-0 on Saturday and have a goal difference of plus nine.

Bayern have seven points from three after winning 2-1 at newly promoted SV Elversberg. More striking is who is not on the scorers list: Harry Kane, winner of the Torjagerkanone in each of his three seasons in Germany, is not among the leaders. The top of that chart is shared on three goals by Younes Ebnoutalib of Eintracht Frankfurt, Yuito Suzuki of Freiburg, Phillip Tietz of Mainz, Patrik Schick of Bayer Leverkusen and Michael Gregoritsch of Augsburg.

SV Elversberg have become the fifty-ninth club to play in the Bundesliga and sit sixth with six points, having already beaten Monchengladbach 4-3 away. Schalke 04 are back after three years and won 3-1 at Union Berlin on Friday. RB Leipzig beat Hamburg 5-0 under Martin Demichelis, and Bayer Leverkusen have four points from three in Carles Martinez Novell's first season.

Serie A

Saturday evening in Rome is the fixture of the European weekend. Roma and Inter are the only unbeaten sides, level on points with Roma ahead on goal difference, and they meet at the Stadio Olimpico at 18:00 local time. Gian Piero Gasperini called it an opportunity to measure up against the best and show his side can do better, which is about as close to a gauntlet as he throws.

Roma's form is built on Donyell Malen, who has six goals in four matches, equalling a club record set by Francesco Totti in 2001-02, with Paulo Dybala supplying him. Gasperini has praised how the two complete each other. Inter, the reigning champions, have won all three of theirs but lost 2-1 at Real Madrid in Europe.

Elsewhere the champions-elect narrative is getting complicated. Juventus lost 3-2 at Sassuolo on Sunday after leading, with former Juventus player Vasilije Adzic scoring the winner, and Luciano Spalletti is already fielding questions about his future despite public backing. AC Milan drew 2-2 at Lazio in Ruben Amorim's latest outing, with Christian Pulisic registering his first assist of the season. And Fiorentina, who lost their first three, won 4-2 at Venezia thanks to a hat-trick from Franco Mastantuono, who became the youngest Argentinian to score one in Europe's top five leagues, a record previously held by Lionel Messi.

Ligue 1

Three clubs share the lead on ten points: Lille, Monaco and Rennes. Davide Ancelotti's Lille beat Troyes 2-0 on Sunday through Santos and a stoppage-time goal from Ethan Mbappe. Filipe Luis's Monaco were held 1-1 at Strasbourg. Rennes beat Marseille 1-0 on Friday through Adrien Thomasson.

Paris Saint-Germain finally won, 1-0 at Brest through Ferran Torres, and are seventh on five points. Marseille have now lost two in a row under Bruno Genesio and travel to Besiktas in the Europa League tomorrow. Auxerre claimed a first win of the season, 1-0 over Nice.

French football also spent the summer in mourning. Eric Roy, who coached Brest to the Champions League and was still in post last season, died on June 17 at the age of 58 after an illness. Julien Lachuer has succeeded him at Brest.

Major League Soccer

Nashville SC are eight points clear at the top of the overall standings and closing on a first Supporters' Shield. They drew 2-2 at Inter Miami at the weekend in the fixture of the regular season, Lionel Messi putting Miami ahead before Sam Surridge equalised late. The draw denied Nashville a playoff berth they will clinch shortly anyway.

Lionel Messi leads the Golden Boot race with eighteen. Behind the headline act, the league's most interesting attacking story is at Orlando City, where Antoine Griezmann has eight goals and, outside Messi himself, the best non-penalty goal contribution rate per ninety minutes of any player with ten or more starts this season. Orlando beat Toronto 3-0.

Rafael Navarro has four goals in two starts for St. Louis City since a reported twelve million dollar trade from Colorado, Philadelphia beat San Diego 5-0 with a brace from Cavan Sullivan, who now has seventeen goal contributions in under 1,400 minutes, and Vancouver Whitecaps lead the Western Conference. The regular season ends on November 7 and MLS Cup is on December 18.