One week in and the big clubs of the EPL are already in turmoil.

As England’s women footballers reach the World Cup final, the best-laid plans of mice and men have gone awry.

Or is it, as Robbie Burns’ fellow Scot, Alex Ferguson, put it, just a case of: “Football, bloody hell”?

Wherever you look, untimely injuries and a Saudi Arabian gold rush have played havoc with the most carefully-planned campaigns.

With two weeks left of the transfer window, a lot can still happen.

Top two, Manchester City and Arsenal, have each lost a key man for half the season and are scrambling for replacements.

Spurs are desperate to fill a Harry Kane-sized chasm.

Liverpool have gone from being shrewd operators to offering silly money and looking even sillier.

Manchester United have spent a fortune and don’t look any better.

Chelsea show no sign of putting the scattergun down and only Saudi-backed Newcastle are showing restraint.

Brighton, meanwhile, have been crowned “best-run club” by turning a £4m unknown kid from Ecuador into a record £115m sale.

Some are saying that owner Tony Bloom should run the economy.

Treble-winning City added the European Super Cup to their collection with a win on penalties over Sevilla in midweek.

But it didn’t compensate for the loss of skipper, Kevin De Bruyne, who limped off in the opening game of the season at Burnley.

The extent of his injury was far worse than expected for the playmaker: a torn hamstring and four months out.

This is a bitter blow for the champions who already had an £80m offer for Lucas Paqueta rejected by West Ham.

The 42-cap Brazilian is a top talent and shone in the Hammers’ successful Europa League campaign.

He scored 12 goals in all competitions and was thought to be an ideal back-up for the Belgian talisman.

But it will be expecting a lot for him to fill such a gap in his debut season under Pep Guardiola – an experience the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips have found demanding.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Doku, of Stade Rennes, is being sought as a possible replacement for Mahrez.

But with precocious teenager Cole Palmer adding another goal (against Sevilla) to his strike in the Community Shield, City fans are wondering if the Algerian’s successor is already on the books.

With the late-window splurge, it seems City are in no way inhibited by the 115 charges of FFP breaches hanging over them.

They entertain Newcastle in a Gulf derby on Saturday.

Title rivals Arsenal are also cursing their opening day luck.

New £34m defensive strongman Jurrien Timber was in splinters before half-time against Nottingham Forest.

Like De Bruyne, he walked off, and like the City man, the injury (an ACL) is worse than feared: he’s also not expected back until the new year.

This, too, is a serious setback as the versatile Dutchman can play full-back on either flank, or centre-back.

If no one else can be found, it may mean that Kieran Tierney still has a future at the Emirates.

Despite the spending spree, Manchester United have two very different clouds hanging over them.

In case you’d forgotten, the club has still not been sold.

It was November when the Glazers announced they wanted out and negotiations have dragged on longer than the Vietnam peace talks.

Fans are still demonstrating against the hated American family but the longer the impasse, the greater the fear that they may not go at all.

Most fans favour the Qatari bid for the whole club, and it’s felt that Sheikh Jassim has more money than local billionaire, Jim Ratcliffe, who wants a majority share.

But either would be preferable to the status quo which, if prolonged, will only mean more angst.

There’s also the dilemma over Mason Greenwood.

The 21-year-old was once the hottest property at the club, but he was suspended after charges of sexual assault, including rape, were brought against him.

These have now been dropped, but United face opprobrium from women’s groups and much of society if they allow him to play.

Audio evidence is out in the public domain and besides the anti-Glazer demo on Monday, there was one against taking Greenwood back too.

Liverpool face a very different decision, but which also could be far reaching.

Having regained their reputation for incisiveness in the first weeks of the window, the Reds were effectively mugged by Saudi Arabia.

Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai look like serious upgrades but losing Jordan Henderson and Fabinho was not part of the plan.

An out of the blue attempt to gazump Chelsea for Moises Caicedo looked like a winner when Brighton accepted, but no one had bargained for the player rejecting Liverpool.

Salt was rubbed into the wounds when Romeo Lavia did likewise.

With Chelsea boasting both defensive midfielders, Liverpool were left ransacking their list.

The loss of Michael Edwards and Julian Ward as football directors was deeply felt as Jorg Schmadtke tried to step in operating with a laptop in Ibiza.

Aside from young players opting for the brighter lights of London, it was embarrassing.

But it’s Schmadtke’s connections in Germany that have helped seal a £15m deal for Stuttgart and Japan skipper Waturu Endo, 30.

If he lives up to his reputation as a leader and warrior, he’ll fill a gap and save a lot of money.

Spurs face an even bigger challenge – to replace the irreplaceable.

With just one goal last season, Richarlison is not the man but the one who won’t be available until the second half of the season.

Ivan Toney, suspended for betting infringements, is a prolific scorer and Kane’s deputy in the England team.

But it would take a fee in the region of what Bayern paid for Kane to prise him out of Brentford.

You wonder just how Mauricio Pochettino is going to sort out Chelsea’s new signings, but turmoil is a state the Blues seem to flourish in.

It already has the makings of quite a season.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.