After weeks of transfer speculation and deals featuring absurd sums of money and ridiculous rumours, it is something of a relief that the Premier League finally kicks off this weekend.
One game has already been played with Brentford hosting Arsenal last night. More importantly, the fans are back without any irritating artificial crowd noises.
With the transfer window continuing until Aug 31, there is still plenty of time for significant changes in the line-ups, which makes forecasts a little tricky.
Lionel Messi was not the only footballer to shed tears this week.
Jack Grealish admitted he "teared up" upon finally leaving his boyhood club Aston Villa to join Manchester City.
However, with key players Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden both sidelined with injuries the 25-year-old Grealish has a great opportunity to make an immediate impact at the Etihad Stadium.
The Premier League will once again feel like three leagues in one with the usual suspects vying for the top four places, half-a-dozen teams resigned to mid-table status and the rest simply fighting to stay in the division. For the latter clubs, there is nothing wrong with 17th place in the 20-team top flight.
It could be very similar to last season with Manchester City being chased by Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, although you cannot rule out Leicester City.
Despite the De Bruyne and Foden injuries, City are still the bookies' favourites.
You can't read too much in the defeat to Leicester in the Community Shield as there were so many second half substitutions that the game at times resembled a training session.
United are looking strong and the arrival of Jadon Sancho can only help their bid to usurp their city rivals and win the title for the first time in nine long years.
The London challenge is expected to be led by Chelsea and the return of Romelu Lukaku to Stamford Bridge should bring them the goal-scoring firepower that was painfully missing last season.
Both Spurs and Arsenal will be keen to improve and Gunners manager Mikel Arteta could be under pressure if things don't go well.
At the time of writing, it is still unclear where Harry Kane will end up.
You have to empathise with Nuno Esperito Santo, who is getting an early taste of the joys of being the Tottenham gaffer.
With the spectators back, Liverpool will expect Anfield to be a fortress once again, unlike last season when a combination of injuries and poor form sparked a mid-season slump before a remarkable late recovery.
In the blue side of the city, it will be interesting to see if Rafa Benitez can push Everton to a higher level than his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti who could only manage 10th place.
He should be encouraged by the performance of Brazilian striker Richarlison in the Olympics.
The three newly promoted clubs tend to be favourites to go straight back down and this cannot be totally ruled out.
Norwich City and Watford both return to the top flight after just one season's absence. Let's hope they can make a better go of it this time around.
A decent start would help, but Norwich face a baptism of fire at home to Liverpool today while Watford's credentials will be severely tested by a visiting Aston Villa side boosted by the signing of prolific striker Danny Ings from Southampton.
Canaries manager Daniel Farke knows from bitter experience that playing attractive football is not enough and hopefully he has tightened up the defence.
There's a lot of interest in how newcomers Brentford will fare.
The Bees are the 50th team to play in the Premier League and last appeared in the top flight more than 70 years ago.
Since then they have not enjoyed much success. They have spent more time in the bottom two divisions than any other London club and in the west of London have been the poor relations of Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.
However, there appears to be tremendous spirit at Brentford led by Danish manager Thomas Frank, who is widely admired amongst players and fans.
Much will depend on striker Ivan Toney, who scored 33 goals last season, adjusting to the Premier League.
Newcastle's 12th place finish last season did not really reflect the drama they experienced for much of the time.
They should have enough to see them through, but as long as Mike Ashley runs the place, it is hard to shake off the soap opera feeling about the club.
If they clinch the signing of Joe Willock from Arsenal, it will greatly boost their midfield while the Magpies will hope injury-prone strikers Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximim stay fit.
Let's just hope there is a close race both at the top and bottom.
It would be great if an unfancied club "did a Leicester" and shook everything up.
Well, we can always dream.