There was an interesting dynamic to the title conversation at the start of this season. Liverpool are always around it these days, and suggesting they had been forgotten would be wrong, but everybody's eyes seemed to be diverted elsewhere.
The headlines came at the other super clubs. Romelu Lukaku returning to Chelsea, Cristiano Ronaldo's romantic reunion with Manchester United, Jack Grealish arriving at Manchester City as the most expensive British player ever.
Transfers are a funny phenomenon. If Liverpool had signed Erling Haaland — let's be honest, they didn't really need to spend huge amounts on ready-made first-team 'stars' last summer — then they would have been everybody's favourites at the start of the season.