5 new Premier League signings to watch

Premier League clubs were slow to splash their cash in the early months of the transfer window but business has picked up ahead of the start to the new season on Friday.

AFP Sports looks at five of the major signings aiming to justify their price tags:

Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal)
The Gunners beat off stiff competition from Serie A giants Juventus to land the Italian defender following his impressive 2023/24 season for Bologna.

Calafiori was also a shining light in Italy’s otherwise pitiful defence of the European Championship in June.

However, it is unclear where the 22-year-old will fit into Mikel Arteta’s team.

Arsenal boasted the best defence in the Premier League last season, keeping 18 clean sheets in 38 games.

Comfortable on the ball and striding out from the back, Calafiori has been tipped as a possible left-back.

But he has shone for club and country as a centre-back so could pose a threat to Gabriel Magalhaes’ place alongside William Saliba at the heart of the defence.

His arrival, for a reported £42 million ($53 million), certainly boosts Arteta’s wealth of defensive options as Arsenal aim to end a 21-year wait to win the title.

Dominic Solanke (Tottenham)
Spurs are hoping Solanke can fire them back into the Champions League and maybe even end a 16-year trophy drought.

Fresh from his best ever scoring season, netting 19 times in the Premier League for Bournemouth, the 26-year-old would become Tottenham’s record signing if the add-ons are met in a deal that can rise to £65 million.

Solanke had brief spells at Chelsea and Liverpool earlier in his career, but has come of age during five years at Bournemouth.

“He’ll be a great fit for us,” said Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, whose team finished fifth in his first season in