Liverpool are spending big as well, especially by agreeing a British record fee of £111m for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, which is exactly the sort of statement their fans were hoping for in the transfer market.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are the only team to have stopped City from winning the title since 2017, when they were champions in 2020, but they are not at that level at the moment.
Their aim is really just to get back into the top four, because they need Champions League football – and that’s why they are looking to spend that sort of money on Caicedo, as well as Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.
I don’t have any worries about their attacking options, and they’ve revamped their midfield after the departures of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner, but let’s see how they get on defensively – I am not convinced.
It’s hard to know what to expect from Chelsea but it is surely impossible for them to be as bad as they were last season, which was an embarrassment for them. Mauricio Pochettino won’t allow that to happen again.
I would say Aston Villa are my dark horses to make the top six but they are not really a surprise package because of how well they did once Unai Emery took charge midway through last season.
They have already shown they belong in this group of teams, and with Emery’s experience they will be in and around it again.
Tottenham’s aim will be to get back up there too, but their chances of making the top four look a lot slimmer now that Harry Kane is on his way to Bayern Munich.
Spurs obviously didn’t want to see him leave on a free but it’s a massive blow for new manager Ange Postecoglou to lose his star player now, right at the start of the new campaign.
Kane had a brilliant season last year, scoring 30 goals in 38 league games, and his form was only overshadowed by Haaland’s amazing scoring feats.
Despite that, Tottenham still only finished eighth. Without him, how are they going to even match that?
Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
