Just 11 weeks have passed since Manchester City lifted the Premier League title to bring down the curtain on the 2021-22 Premier League campaign, yet plenty has changed ahead of the start of the new season.
City have undergone a facelift of sorts, with Erling Haaland their marquee arrival of the window, while last term's runners-up Liverpool have replaced the ever-reliable Sadio Mane with Darwin Nunez in attack.
The chasing pack have also been busy as they desperately attempt to keep pace with City and Liverpool, but the exciting signings of the close season to date have not been solely reserved by those competing in the upper echelons.
With the 2022-23 season getting underway on Friday, Stats Perform picks out 10 players we are most looking forward to seeing in action in the Premier League for the very first time.
Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
Arguably the highest-profile signing of the transfer window, Haaland arrives at City with a reputation of being one of Europe's most ruthless goalscorers at the age of just 22.
Haaland was prolific during his short time at Salzburg and scored 86 goals in 89 appearances in all competitions for Borussia Dortmund.
That is a tally bettered by only Robert Lewandowski (122) and Kylian Mbappe (89) across the same period, both of whom played 19 games more.
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Liverpool will also have a new frontman this campaign after spending an initial £64million (€75m) to bring in Nunez from Benfica.
While not a direct like-for-like replacement for Mane, the Uruguay international will have to both score goals on a regular basis and also help to get the best out of his fellow attackers, such as Mohamed Salah.
The figures suggest Nunez should be well up to the task, with his conversion rate of 27.2 per cent being the highest of all players with 55 or more non-penalty shots in Europe's top-six leagues last season.
Ivan Perisic (Tottenham)
Tottenham were successful in getting the majority of their transfer business out the way early on, giving Antonio Conte a chance to integrate the likes of Clement Lenglet, Djed Spence, Richarlison and Yves Bissouma into his squad.
Each of those will add something different, but it is Perisic who is the most intriguing signing of the lot. Regularly linked with a switch to the Premier League, the former Dortmund, Inter and Bayern winger finally gets a chance to test himself in England's top flight.
Among many other qualities, Perisic created the most chances following ball carries – defined as any instance when a player moves five-or-more metres with the ball – of any player in Serie A in 2021-22 (26), showing he can still be a menace out wide even at the age of 33.
Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United)
New head coach Erik ten Hag has largely stuck to what he knows when it comes to Manchester United's transfer activity in his first window in charge. Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia and Martinez have all either worked under Ten Hag or have strong connections with the Eredivisie.
Eriksen is already an established name in English football, whereas Malacia and Martinez are gearing up for their first taste of the Premier League. While Malacia is expected to be used as a squad player, Martinez will surely be a regular in the heart of defence if his £48m (€57m) price tag is anything to go by.
Despite concerns being raised over his lack of height, Martinez boasted an aerial duel success rate of 70.2 per cent in the Eredivisie last season, which was fourth-best return of any player.
Kalidou Koulibaly (Chelsea)
Another perennially linked Premier League player, Koulibaly has joined Chelsea after eight years as a Napoli player. Following the departures of centre-backs Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger after the expiration of their contracts, Koulibaly will have to hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
If his time with Napoli is anything to go by, Chelsea will have a solid and reliable player in the heart of their defence for the next few years. Across his time in Naples, no defender in Serie A won more tackles (344) or made more successful passes (14,528) than the Senegal international.
Fabio Vieira (Arsenal)
Arsenal mean serious business ahead of Mikel Arteta's third full season in charge. The Spaniard has used his Man City links to recruit Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus, having already added Vieira to the squad earlier in the window.
Central midfield was not exactly an area Arsenal were light, yet Arteta felt the need to strengthen and in Vieira he has a player with experience of winning a couple of league titles with Porto prior to turning 22.
In contrast to legendary Arsenal namesake Patrick, the Portugal Under-21 international is more accustomed to playing high up the field and recorded the most assists (14) of any Porto player in the league last season, while also chipping in with six goals of his own.
Tyler Adams (Leeds United)
Leeds escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth last season – now they must do so again without their most important player following Kalvin Phillips' move to Man City.
Plenty of eyes will be on Adams in the holding midfield position, the United States international having arrived at Elland Road on the back of three years with New York Red Bulls, followed by three more years with sister club RB Leipzig.
Adams recovered possession an average of 5.69 times per 90 minutes across his 24 Bundesliga appearances last season, which is nearly half the number Phillips (10.2) managed in the Premier League – the best return of any player with 900+ minutes in the competition.
Boubacar Kamara (Aston Villa)
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has quietly gone about his transfer business ahead of his first full season in Premier League management. The signing of Kamara, a defensive midfielder by trade, went somewhat under the radar given it was announced just a day after the previous season finished.
Kamara was a big part of Marseille's strong 2021-22 campaign, which saw them finish second in Ligue 1 and reach the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.
Of midfielders in the French top division in last season, only Johan Gastien and Jordan Ferri made more than Kamara's 2,383 passes, while of those who made over 1,000 passes, only five players had better accuracy than his 90.68 per cent.
Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham)
It says an awful lot about the work carried out by David Moyes at West Ham over the past two seasons that finishing seventh last time out – a drop from sixth the year before – was considered a disappointment.
If Moyes' men are to once again challenge on multiple fronts this coming season, bringing in a player who knows how to find the net was always going to be imperative. In Scamacca, West Ham appear to have exactly that.
The Italy international scored 16 goals in 36 Serie A appearances for mid-table Sassuolo last season and converted 70.59 per cent of his big chances, a figure only bettered by Gianluca Caprari (83.33) and Dusan Vlahovic (73.91) among players to hit double figures.
Aaron Hickey (Brentford)
Brentford have broken their transfer record multiple times this window to help build on an impressive first ever campaign in the Premier League. Christian Eriksen may have departed, but other areas have been strengthened, including in defence.
The £14m (€16.6m) signing of Hickey from Bologna arguably strengthens Brentford in both full-back departments, given the Scotland international's versatility with both feet.
He also has an eye for goal, having netted five times in the Italian top flight and assisted another last season. Among Serie A defenders in the 2021-22 season, only Genoa's Domenico Criscito (six) and Nahuel Molina (seven) of Udinese scored more goals.
Fenerbahce confirm Mourinho arrival
Jose Mourinho has been confirmed as the new head coach of Fenerbahce.
The Istanbul giants teased Mourinho's arrival in the wake of Ismail Kartal’s departure, and he has reportedly penned a two-year deal with the club.
Kartal took charge of Fenerbahce for three spells, finishing second behind Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Lig last season with 99 points in his final stint.
Reports said Mourinho had verbally agreed to take over on Friday, before the club confirmed his unveiling will take place on Sunday.
Mourinho has been out of work since leaving Roma in January after a two-and-a-half-year spell at the club in which he led them to their first European trophy, winning the Europa Conference League in 2022, while also taking them to the Europa League final the following year.
The 61-year-old had previously enjoyed stints at Porto, Chelsea over two spells, Inter, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham.
During that course, he won a combined eight domestic titles and two Champions Leagues, only failing to lift silverware while at Tottenham.
Mourinho is now tasked with ending Fenerbahce’s 10-year wait for a Super Lig title.
Lionesses goalkeeper Earps set to miss Euro 2025 qualifier against France with hip injury
England Women's goalkeeper Mary Earps will miss the decisive clash with France Women on Tuesday after withdrawing from Sarina Wiegman's squad with a hip injury.
Earps left St. James' Park with crutches after sustaining an injury just eight minutes into Friday's 2-1 defeat against France.
That marred what should have been a memorable occasion for Manchester United goalkeeper Earps, who made her 50th appearance for the Lionesses.
England confirmed Earps will be unavailable for Tuesday's Euro 2025 qualifier away to France, with Birmingham City's Lucy Thomas joining Wiegman's 23-player squad for the trip to Saint-Etienne.
"Not the way the big 50 was meant to go, but grateful and hugely proud to have reached 50 caps for England," Earps posted to Instagram on Sunday.
"Thank you for your lovely messages, gutted that I've picked up a minor hip injury which will sideline me for a couple of weeks.
"Not something I'm used to but nothing a little bit of rest and relaxation won't fix – right behind the girls for Tuesday!"
England are third in Group A3 as Wiegman's side chase qualification for next year's European Championship in Switzerland.
The Lionesses have four points and are behind second-placed Sweden on goal difference, with France five clear at the top of the group after three games.
Wiegman's team then host Ireland on July 12 and play Sweden away four days later in their final group game.
Gauff continues serene French Open progress with last-16 win over Cocciaretto
Coca Gauff showed no signs of slowing down after easing into the French Open quarter-finals for a fourth consecutive year with a straight-sets victory over Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Iga Swiatek blitzed past Anastasia Potapova in just over 40 minutes earlier on Sunday, and a wind-swept Court Philippe-Chatrier watched a similar demolition shortly after.
Gauff dropped just five points on service in a dominant first set, brushing the world number 51 to one side in a routine 25-minute opener.
Italy's Cocciaretto responded by holding her serve in the second set but had no match for the athletic Gauff, who secured another break early on to go 2-1 up.
The world number three resumed her usual domination from there on, with Cocciaretto struggling to thwart Gauff's resounding power and eventually falling to a 6-1 6-2 defeat in just over an hour.
Gauff, the US Open champion in 2023, is still yet to lose a set in Paris this year as she prepares for a last-eight meeting with Clara Tauson or Ons Jabuer.
Data Debrief: In-form Gauff on song
Cocciaretto had defeated 2023 French Open semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia and big-hitting 17th-seed Liudmila Samsonova to reach this stage, with the 23-year-old impressing in the French capital.
Yet Gauff, three years younger than the Italian, could not be stopped on Philliper-Chatrier. She now has 19 wins at Roland-Garros, two more than Chris Evert managed before turning 21.
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