The five most shambolic Premier League 2023/24 pre-season campaigns - including West Ham and Everton struggles

You can’t win anything in pre-season, but you sure as hell can lose a lot. As the old adage goes, ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’, and while clubs from across the length and breadth of the Premier League are furiously readying themselves for the beginning of the new campaign this weekend, some have been more successful in their summer ventures than other.

With that in mind, we’ve taken a look at five teams who have struggled to properly find their groove over the past few weeks, and who could be in for a rude awakening when things do get underway in the coming days.

West Ham

At the time of writing, West Ham are yet to make a signing this summer. That in itself is criminal enough, but when you consider that they also have a British record transfer fee burning a hole in their wallet following the sale of Declan Rice, it becomes doubly so.

Now, in fairness, a deal for midfielder Ederson Alvarez is said to be edging close to completion, and there are renewed suggestions that the Hammers will go back in for Manchester United duo Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay, but leaving things as late as they have has, in the first instance, left David Moyes looking a touch understaffed heading into the opening weekend, and in the second, dissipated a decent amount of the optimism that was garnered from last season’s Europa Conference League triumph.

Chelsea

At the other end of the transfer spectrum, Chelsea have continued to spend like a trust fund billionaire at an apres ski, and yet they still haven’t addressed the most pressing issue in their squad. Mauricio Pochettino’s midfield looks threadbare to the point of skeletal following the departures of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, and Kai Havertz, but as things stand, the Blues have been frustrated in their efforts to sign any kind of meaningful replacements.

That could change if they finally nab Moises Caicedo from Brighton, and in fairness, there have been some decent on-field performances in the pre-season, but there are reasons to be concerned, especially after last season’s disastrous turn.

Throw in a smattering of injuries to the likes of Benoit Badiashile, Trevor Chalobah, Christopher Nkunku, and Wesley Fofana, and it has been a complex and potentially damaging pre-season for the Blues.

Sheffield United

Promotion to the Premier League, while the dream of every Football League club, can also be a cruel, cruel fate. The top flight is an unforgiving arena, and for any team entering that particular fray, they will know just how easily they could drop back out of it without making any kind of impact.

For Sheffield United, operating on the relatively meagre means that they do, survival was always going to be a tall ask. Survival without star man Iliman Ndiaye, however, must feel nigh on impossible. The Senegalese forward has left for Marseille in recent days, and joins the likes of loanees James McAtee and Tommy Doyle as departures that have notably weakened Paul Heckingbottom’s dressing room. With further suggestions that Burnley could be about to swoop for Sander Berge, the Blades might be in a whole world of trouble.

Everton

Everton have ridden their luck immensely in recent seasons to avoid relegation from the Premier League, and if they’re not careful will almost certainly be involved in another fight for survival this term. The issues facing Sean Dyche’s side are deeply-entrenched and manifold, and you have to ask yourself whether they are the kind of problems that can be solved with the signing of veteran wide man Ashley Young and loanee winger Arnaut Danjuma.

You suspect that more will be needed at Goodison Park before the end of the transfer window, or the Toffees could find themselves in another sticky situation come the latter stages of the campaign.

Liverpool

So much of the rhetoric surrounding Liverpool this summer has been based on the notion of a midfield rebuild. At first, things appeared to be going well in that regard, with Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai both coming in to bolster Jurgen Klopp’s ranks - but less expected was the widespread exodus of established talent at Anfield.

James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Naby Keita all left earlier in the summer, and then both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho headed for Saudi Arabia in somewhat shocking circumstances. Meanwhile, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajectic have both picked up minor knocks, pursuits for the likes of Southampton’s Romeo Lavia have proven to be frustrating thus far, and as things stand, the Reds are heading into the new campaign with a flimsy midfield marshalled by Curtis Jones.

There is still time for Liverpool to fix their shortcomings, but it is surely fair to say that they have thus far not had the transfer window that they might have been hoping for.