How will Premier League’s top-four race play out after hectic January transfer window?

Every week, our own Luis Miguel Echegaray offers his latest thoughts from the world of football. You have the analysis; now comes LME’s commentary.

Welcome to The Tap-In.

Mo’ Money, Top Four Problems?

When the late Christopher Wallace — aka The Notorious B.I.G. — released “Mo Money Mo Problems” alongside then-called Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and Mase in 1997, the message of the incredibly popular song was clear: with spectacular opulence and success, the issues of greed, financial and social jealousy (“Know you’d rather see me die than to see me fly”) will inevitably surface.

The song’s beat, thanks to a sample from Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” and a refrain from R&B singer Kelly Price (she’s the one who sings “I don’t know what they want from me”) was the perfect oxymoron to the actual message of struggle against fame. Biggie himself illustrates it, imagining himself on the cover of Fortune magazine whilst telling the listener of his tumultuous upbringing. Above anything else, it’s a masterpiece of a dancehall/rap anthem of the 1990s and if you were a gelled-haired, overconfident, undoubtedly annoying teenager — much like the author of this column — it was a song you had to dance to … wherever you were.

You may be asking “OK, it’s a great song, but where are you going with this, LME?” I’ll get there, I promise.

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In many ways, this record can serve as a great soundtrack to the frantic story that is the Premier League’s top-four race. Money has now been spent and some key players, on positive and negative terms — I see you, Joao Cancelo — have come and gone. Some couldn’t even do that thanks to society’s favorite Achilles’ heel: a computer glitch. Fax machines everywhere are rejoicing.

So in the words of Mase as he begins one of the greatest intros in hip hop history (“Now, who’s hot, who not? Tell me who rock, who sell out in the stores?”), after all this money and ludicrous spending, are you in better or worse shape than before? Let’s dive in.

January’s expenditure in the league, which surpassed $800 million, is an incredible number. So much so that when you combine the next top 10 European leagues and what they spent, it still wouldn’t come close. It was a massive increase from the previous January record, a measly $528m, set in 2018.

Chelsea, unsurprisingly, were the biggest spenders with more than $400m. Just as Mase attested to, Todd Boehly really won’t stop until you see his name on a blimp. To be fair, I don’t know if Graham Potter sees it that way and based on my conversations with Chelsea fans, I don’t even think they will care if they get a top-four spot. “This is a project,” they tell me. “Patience,” they say. I mean, that’s all well and good, but If there is one virtue that doesn’t normally sustain in the Premier League, it’s exactly that: patience.