Strained muscles, squeaky bums and announcements of exits by mutual consent used to be the sole preserve of frenzied end-of-season run-ins.

But there will be more than a few weary lungs and limbs -not to mention a major managerial hot-seat sitting vacant -when the new Barclays Premier League campaign kicks off at Old Trafford at 12.45pm today

After the tumultuous World Cup campaign in which for England players it was emotions rather than energy levels that were depleted, marathon pre-season tours slung Champions League stars to all corners of the globe.

Louis van Gaal, the man charged with rebuilding Manchester United into a title-chasing force after the misery of the David Moyes regime, has already stated in no uncertain terms that such long-winded - but lucrative - summer tours are a thing of the past.

Van Gaal's assertion will undoubtedly carry weight. Pity Tony Pulis, whose own concerns at the size of the Crystal Palace transfer budget have led to his departure without a new ball being kicked.

Van Gaal's insistence that the interests of his squad should come before conquering so-called emerging markets blew a breath of fresh air through a game which has been increasingly overburdened by the interests of those in charge of the balance sheets.

With Chelsea easing back on their transfer outlay and Manchester City hardly breaking the bank by their standards, it would be all too tempting to suggest the new season marks a shift in the kind of rabid fortune-building that has frothed up past campaigns.

Such a notion would be nonsense, of course. Jose Mourinho's £32million splurge on Diego Costa was hardly financed by sweeping up loose change at Stamford Bridge, Nor can will Manuel Pellegrini's hands to be tied when the next superstar is available.

What the summer's strictly relative financial prudence does allow is a fascinating insight into the minds of those at the respective helms of the teams we can safely assume will make this season's Premier League title at most a five-horse race.

Mourinho must believe - and probably rightly - that only problems with his front line denied him the title last term, and Costa can bridge that gap.

City fans concerned about any whiffs of complacency ought to be buoyed by the fact that Pellegrini has spent the summer focused on his problematic defence, with Porto's Eliaquim Mangala and Arsenal's Bacary Sagna shrewd additions.

There is eminent good sense, too, in Arsenal's acquisition of Chilean World Cup star Alexis Sanchez and Newcastle full-back Mathieu Debuchy as the Gunners, boosted by an emphatic Charity Shield success over Pellegrini's men, aim to prove once again that Arsene Wenger has not lost his touch.

Clearly, Van Gaal has not stopped spending, and there remain too many imponderables swirling around Old Trafford to make a safe judgment on United's prospects this season, but if the Dutchman did steer them straight to the title, it would rank as arguably the greatest success of his storied managerial career.

Liverpool inadvertently endured a desperate World Cup, the group game between Italy and Uruguay effectively hastening Luis Suarez's departure, and despite reaping a £75m fee from Barcelona, the problem for Brendan Rodgers remains how cash can replace a player regarded on his day to be the best striker in the world.

None of Rodgers' slew of replacements set pulses racing in the way as Suarez did when he bore down on the Kop with the ball at his feet and the goal in his sight, and it can be expected that rather than repeat the heady title charge of the previous campaign, the Reds will be involved in a scramble with city rivals Everton and perhaps United and Arsenal for that lucrative fourth Champions League place.

At the opposite end of the table, Nigel Pearson's Leicester look equipped to avoid the yo-yo fate of many newly-promoted teams, and a good opening show against an Everton side banking on the continued emergence of Ross Barkley to lift them towards the Champions League would lay down a sturdy marker.

Despite the relatively underwhelming appointment of Alan Irvine as head coach, West Brom have also bought well and will look for a flyer against a Sunderland side who need to do more to inspire a judgment that they can avoid another relegation struggle.

Never mind end-of-season run-ins: from a quarter to one, squeaky-bum time is back. This time, irrespective of early- season exhaustion and white-hot hot-seats, it looks as if for the next nine months it's here to stay.