Liverpool’s interest in Guehi had been well-reported over the window. On Monday, Crystal Palace accepted a 35-million pound bid for the defender who was entering the last year of his contract. At 3pm UK time, four hours before the window closed, Fabrizio Romano gave it the “here we go” on X (usually a helpful marker for a transfer going ahead). Four and a half hours later, the deal was off.

So, why did this transfer not go ahead? Of course, there is the story which unfolded on Tuesday and over the following days. On the surface, it was set perfectly set up to happen - Crystal Palace were keen to make some money selling Guehi - he is entering the last year of his deal, meaning that he will be able to move on a free, without Palace getting any compensation, next year. Crystal Palace had a replacement lined up, Igor Julio. The goodbye video for Guehi was prepared (The Athletic have confirmed it was genuine).

But Crystal Palace are also in a precarious position, with FA Cup-winning Oliver Glasner steering his squad into Europe for the first time. And by Monday evening, even though a private jet was lined up to take Guehi to Liverpool, the deal had to be called off. Glasner was threatening to walk if Palace sold the defender, a prospect that had become more legitimate after Erik ten Hag had been sacked from the Bayer Leverkusen managerial job, leaving that role vacant. Igor Julio had signed for West Ham. There was no option - Guehi had to stay.

This isn’t a story that started on Monday the 1st of September though. Here’s Guehi, involved against Chelsea on opening weekend.

And he’s started every game for the Eagles this season, even scoring against Aston Villa last time out. Compare and contrast that with other players trying to force a move this summer: Alexander Isak went on strike at Newcastle, and Yoane Wissa effectively refused to associate himself with Brentford. Both got the move that they wanted: Isak moved to Liverpool, and Wissa to Newcastle. Guehi was apparently devastated to miss out on his move to Liverpool, but perhaps he hadn’t forced Palace’s hand enough: he had been too professional, not willing enough to kick up a fuss.

Before this summer, I would have said that player power only goes so far - Harry Kane tried to force a move to Manchester City in 2021, and was effectively told “no chance” by Spurs. But this summer has signaled a shift - if you make yourself enough of a problem, maybe you can just get what you want.

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Grimsby 2-2 Manchester United (12-11 on penalties) is possibly the greatest cup-set in history - we’ll unpack why later. Within half an hour, Grimsby Town were 2-0 up, with goals from Charles Vernam and Tyrell Warren, and things were looking dire for Manchester United. Thankfully, they were able to bring a host of first-team substitutes: Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, and Matthijs de Ligt entered the pitch.

It wasn’t all bad for Manchester United - at 60 minutes, Ruben Amorim got out the tactics sheet, and by 90, the score was 2-2, with some very embarrassed celebrations from Mbeumo and Maguire after their goals.

For my money, one of the best things about the Carabao Cup is that games go straight to penalties, and extra time is scrapped. Extra time disproportionately stacks the odds in favour of the team higher up the pyramid, and their stamina often tells (see Tamworth v Tottenham in January 2025, where 0-0 after full time became 0-3 after extra time). Penalties are meant to be the great leveler… in theory at least.

We’ve seen long shootouts in this competition before: Preston North End 16 - 15 Fulham saw 34 (!) penalties be taken, with only a couple of misses throughout the shootout. And it certainly felt interminable for Grimsby v Manchester United last night. Both keepers managed to save one penalty during the initial five, and then the shootout went to sudden death. Even as the tension rose, both teams slotted their penalties away with ease, until this moment…

One hilarious note about the shootout is that Manchester United’s star £73 million striker, Benjamin Sesko, was the tenth United play to take to the spot - behind every defender and other midfielder, and only in front of the goalkeeper. Manchester United’s £73 million striker.

In the end, Grimsby were victorious, and celebrated with a pitch-invasion. Unless you’re a Manchester United fan, you can’t help but smile.

Cup-sets - a lower league team knocking out a giant - feel unlikelier these days - sometimes they feel like a bit of a myth. The Tyne and Wear derby of January 2024 is a perfect example of this: Sunderland of the Championship were raring to go and primed for an upset, but they were totally outclassed, 3-0, by their Premier League rivals Newcastle. In the same month, West Brom were up for a derby against their local rivals, Wolves, and it was a similar story - a comprehensive 2-0 win for the Premier League side.

The wealth disparity between Grimsby Town and Manchester United - between any lower-league team and a Premier League team - is huge. Grimsby’s squad value is £3.1m and Manchester United’s squad value is £769m. In May 2025, Forbes pronounced Manchester United to be the second most valuable club on the planet, only behind Real Madrid. Grimsby (obviously) didn’t feature on the list. This kind of financial disparity has only widened over the years, with the richest clubs growing exponentially richer.

This is almost the perfect cocktail of ingredients to make it the greatest cup-set of all time: Grimsby going two up before being pegged back, the interminable penalty shootout, and the huge (and ever-growing) gulf between the teams financially. More than that though, the internet’s reaction to the defeat has been delicious, from the memes of Amorim with his tactics board, to the United Strand’s video from the shower (for those unfamiliar, Frank Ilett is not cutting his hair until Manchester United win five games in a row - and it’s not looking good).

Round 3 will hopefully feature some more cup-sets, as the teams playing European football enter the competition. Will Port Vale be able to surprise Arsenal, or will Huddersfield manage a surprise win against Manchester City? One thing’s for sure - it’ll have to be pretty special to beat this one.

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Let’s start in the North East for this week’s transfer drama wrap-up. Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak has been a centre-point for transfer speculation this summer, as Liverpool’s £110million bid for the striker was rejected a few weeks ago. Isak had remained silent around the issue publicly, despite dozens of articles in the news every day suggesting that he was unhappy at Newcastle and desperate to move.

And on Tuesday night, while the PFA awards were happening in London, Isak was conspicuously absent - the only player in the Team of the Year not present to receive his gong. Instead, he was busy on Instagram, and he dropped a statement - here’s its most explosive bit…

“I’ve kept quiet for a long time while others have spoken. The reality is that promises were made and the club has known my position for a long time. To now act as if these issues are emerging is misleading. When promises are broken and trust is lost, the relationship can’t continue.”

Not to be outdone, Newcastle United responded…

“Alex remains part of our family and will be welcomed back when he is ready to rejoin his teammates.”

It’s polite, in theory, but surely embarrassing for Isak - it reads like he’s a naughty child, having a tantrum in his room, and is being told that he can rejoin the family when he’s calmed down. There are still ten days left in the transfer window and, excitingly, Newcastle host Liverpool on Monday at 8pm UK time. I’ll certainly be watching, with the popcorn ready.

It’s not all bad for Newcastle though, as there is one player desperately trying to force a move to the Magpies. Brentford have had a torrid summer with departures, from both players and their ex-head coach, Thomas Frank, and Yoane Wissa seems keen to exit as well. He’s removed every Brentford-related post from his Instagram, much like an aggrieved ex-partner might. Awkwardly, Brentford are not quite allowing the break-up yet, and remain keen to keep him.

And finally, this has to be the story of the window - with my deepest apologies to all the Spurs fans reading this. Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze looked set to head to the Lilywhites in N17, and manager Thomas Frank was certainly looking excited about the prospect…

Eek - it’s not a tweet that aged well. This week, the biggest bomb of all dropped - not only is Eze not coming to Spurs, but he’s going to their biggest rival…

Per Ben Jacobs, Eze had initially met with Arsenal in June, but Ethan Nwaneri’s new deal at the Gunners stopped the move. Then Spurs entered the market after missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White and after James Maddison’s ACL injury - and a deal was lined up and ready to go. However, Daniel Levy and the Spurs board dithered just too long, and after Arsenal forward Kai Havertz was injured, the Gunners were ready to pounce. Apparently Eze is an Arsenal fan, so the move was a no-brainer, and screwing over your local rivals by joining? That’s maybe even better.

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Title challengers spending big in attack

Champions Liverpool will be looking to make it back-to-back titles for the first time since the 1980s, but they’ll face stiff competition from Manchester City (who have won 6 of the last 8 titles) and Arsenal (second place an agonising three years in a row). All three clubs have made big moves in the transfer market.

Liverpool have strengthened their side with young attacking talent, as 23-year-old Hugo Ekitike and 22-year-old Florian Wirtz are poised to make an impact for the Reds. The saga of the summer continues surrounding Alexander Isak - the latest in this story is that the Swede is keen to leave Newcastle, but that Liverpool are not (yet) ready to meet his asking price. It’s definitely one to keep an eye on.

Arne Slot’s team will face stiff competition in their title defence. Manchester City got much of their business done before the Club World Cup, bringing in winger Rayan Cherki and attacking midfielder Tijjani Reijnders.

And how can we forget Arsenal’s new signing, Viktor Gyökeres, who joined the Gunners from Sporting Lisbon? Just two years ago, the Swede was tearing it up for Coventry in the Championship, and now the centre-forward hopes to be the catalyst for Arsenal’s first Premier League title in over twenty years.

New boys on the block

In the last two seasons, all three promoted teams have been relegated from the Premier League - Burnley, Luton, and Sheffield United in 2024; and Ipswich, Southampton, and Leicester in 2025. Two recent Premier League favourites return to the fold, Leeds and Burnley, and - excitingly - Sunderland will make their return to the top flight for the first time since being relegated in 2017 (in their time out, they even managed to spend four seasons in League One).

And Sunderland are ready to make a splash. They’ve spent over £130million in the transfer window, picking up eye-catching players like Habib Diarra from Strasbourg, Simon Adingra from Brighton, and - most excitingly - Granit Xhaka from Bayer Leverkusen. I can’t wait to see the fiery 32-year-old midfielder back in the top flight, and I really will take any excuse to share this video from the North London Derby in 2023, where Mikel Arteta had to drag Xhaka away from getting involved in a fight on the pitch.

Granit Xhaka, and of course the rest of the Sunderland team, start their season against West Ham on Saturday.

Spurs and United can’t be that bad again… surely?

2024/25 was a pretty historic season for Spurs and Manchester United.

I’m being facetious of course - in some ways. Despite their record 22 league losses, Tottenham lifted their first trophy since 2008. However, in the Super Cup on Wednesday, it was more of the same-old-Spursy from Tottenham - they had a commanding 2-0 lead in the 84th minute… and managed to lose the game in a penalty shootout.

As for Manchester United, they enter this season after a full pre-season with Ruben Amorim and some fresh signings - most notably, striker Benjamin Šeško. They’ll be training from a shiny new Carrington complex, and won’t face the challenge of balancing European football.

Spurs face newly promoted Burnley on Saturday, while on Sunday Manchester United take on Arsenal.

Record teams face the challenge of European football

Speaking of European football, a record number of Premier League teams will play on the continent this season - nine! - including Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace who have spent some years without the tempo of mid-week fixtures. Plus, with the Club World Cup running until mid-July, many teams’ seasons didn’t finish until over a month after the last ball was kicked in the Premier League. It’s maybe not the sexiest question, but what role will fatigue play in this season? Maybe there’ll be an outside challenger for the league…

Step forward…

…Fulham.

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