The 2017 Premier League season doesn't start for another six weeks, but last season's top two teams, Manchester City and Liverpool, are already looking to repeat their dominance after fast completing some major early signings.
Last season, the duo ended with 93 and 92 points, respectively, well ahead of third-placed Chelsea's 74, and have gone about reaffirming their dominance in the transfer market.
In between confirming the additions of intriguing adolescents Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay, Liverpool are thought to have completed their business, having surpassed their transfer record by signing Darwin Nunez for £85 million.
Pep Guardiola has only added one player to his already talented roster, but it is a major one. Erling Haaland has joined the Etihad Stadium for a fee of £51 million.
Manchester United and Chelsea, on the other hand, have yet to enter the market and fear slipping further behind in their quest of the top two.
But how vital is it to finish your work quickly? When early arrivals have worked out - and when they haven't - Sportsmail examines the results.
Early additions are critical for the Premier League champions.
The bulk of title-winning teams have completed their most crucial transfer activity early in the window over the last ten years.
Manchester City had spent £87 million by the time they traveled to Hong Kong for the Premier League Asia Trophy in pre-season in 2013 to reclaim the trophy from rivals United. Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, and Stevan Jovetic all joined Manuel Pellegrini's squad at the Etihad and helped them win the title.
Chelsea plundered LaLiga a year later, signing Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, and Filipe Luis for a total of £75 million by mid-July. Fabregas would go on to lead the Premier League in assists with 18, while Costa was selected to the PFA Team of the Year as the Blues cruised to an eight-point victory.
Leicester's 5000/1 title win in 2015-16 was based on a group of players who wanted to make a statement. While N'Golo Kante, the Foxes' most important signing, did not arrive until August 3, three unsung heroes - Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs, and Shinji Okazaki - had all signed contracts by the end of June.
Kante was signed by Chelsea in mid-July the following year and proved to be a key early signing as the Blues reclaimed the Premier League. It's worth mentioning that they also signed David Luiz and Marcos Alonso on deadline day that season, proving that last-minute business isn't always a recipe for catastrophe.
Pep Guardiola guided Manchester City to a third-place finish in his first season in England, but he rapidly reshaped the squad in his image in the summer, ensuring they went on to win the Premier League with 100 points. By mid-July, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, and Kyle Walker had walked through the door.
In 2018-19, City won the league with a similar set of players, plus one key acquisition. On July 10, Leicester City signed Riyad Mahrez for £60 million.
In recent years, though, early business hasn't been as important for Premier League champions. The following season and transfer window started late due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Liverpool made no notable acquisitions before winning the title in 2019-20.
Manchester City's £100 million transfer of Jack Grealish was announced just ten days before Pep Guardiola's team's first league match last summer.
Klopp is the king of completing tasks.
Since taking over as manager nearly seven years ago, Jurgen Klopp has changed Liverpool, with the club's transfer dealings being particularly spectacular.
Not only have the most of Klopp's signings been effective, but the bulk of them were made early in the transfer window, as Nunez, Carvalho, and Ramsay being the most recent instances.
Sadio Mane, Joel Matip, Mohamed Salah, Naby Keita, Fabinho, and Ibrahima Konate have all signed contracts with Liverpool before the start of July since 2016. As the club's fortunes have risen, they have all played vital roles.
In reality, with the exception of the summer of 2020, Klopp's Reds have only paid money in August for one player: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was signed on a deadline day for £35 million in 2017.
In January, they are also very efficient with their work. Both Virgil van Dijk and Takumi Minamino signed contracts before to the start of the latest winter window.
But, as Manchester United can attest, it doesn't always work out.
Getting your transfer business done quickly isn't always a surefire way to be successful.
Manchester United is, unsurprisingly, the most prominent example. In recent years, the Red Devils' transfer policy has been closely scrutinized because, well, there isn't much of one.
United has spent a lot of money in order to reclaim their past glory, and they've made acquisitions both early and late in the transfer window.
By the end of the first week of July 2016, Jose Mourinho's first summer at the club has made a statement of purpose by bringing in Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
United got off to a fantastic start after signing Paul Pogba a week before the season started, winning their first three league games. However, they would only win two of their next 11 games, finishing sixth in the rankings.
Meanwhile, early business at Anfield did not prove to be a success in Liverpool's last summer before Klopp's arrival.
Brendan Rodgers acted rapidly in the transfer market to improve on a sixth-place finish the previous season, signing a total of six players before the end of June: Joe Gomez, James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, Roberto Firmino, and Nathaniel Clyne.
Despite the fact that Milner, Firmino, and Gomez went on to win the Champions League and Premier League, none of them had an immediate impact, and Rodgers was fired in October 2015 with the Reds in 10th place.
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