New Delhi: The European heavyweights have begun flexing their financial muscle in the 2011-12 transfer market to latch onto their targeted player's services. Unexpected early-spenders like Manchester United set the ball rolling in the transfer market taking up their spending spree beyond a whopping 50 million Pounds and still looming large on the transfer scene.
The usual wheeler-dealers like Manchester City and Real Madrid have surprisingly made value-for-money buys and still keeping their options open for a megabucks move. Liverpool have cooled down on their buying prowess from the winter and have yet to secure a player's signature in the dotted line with Italian giants Inter and AC Milan keeping mum about their activity too.
And with a month of the Rumour Mill churning out the likely, the realistic and audacious pieces of transfer gossip here is a solid lowdown on your favourite club's activities.
Manchester United
The losing party in the Champions League final at Wembley which Barca won, it seems Manchester Untied manager Sir Alex Ferguson has not forgotten the night of 28th May and has aggressively began on his rebuilding of the famous Fergie 'fledglings' which brought home honours aplenty. With the first club in the transfer season to smash the 50 million Pound mark, the Red Devils have made sure that they got their players as early and as discreetly as they could without gathering any attention. While a lot have raise question marks over the worth of the signings Fergie has made, only his devious mind is capable of working out the dynamic of his team with loaned-out players like Tim Cleverley Danny Welbeck and Mame Birham-Diouf joining in the new season too.
Ashley Young
Signing amount: 16 million pounds
Age: 26
Position: Winger
Signed from: Aston Villa
The rising England winger seems to be have been the answer to the eventual departure of Ryan Giggs in the eyes of Alex Ferguson. After making an unsuccessful bid for the Villa player in the winter, Ferguson finally secured the services of the ex-Watford man for a hefty 16 million pounds. Young possesses the ability to play on either side of the field and can be a constant supply of goal-scoring passes for Rooney and co.
United already have a plethora of wingers in the form Nani, Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan and with the addition of Young in the United ranks, the red half of Manchester seems to have been taken care of in the wing department.
David de Gea
Signing amount: 17.8 million pounds
Age: 20
Position: Goalkeeper
Signed from: Atletico Madrid
Hot on United's shopping list was the imminent need of a goalkeeper after Edwin van Der Sar hung up his boots after the Champions League final. Retiring at 40 and spending six years at the club which made him an Old Trafford legend, replacing him was a onerous task for the United think-tank. With the likes of German Manuel Neuer, Martin Staakelenburg and Pepe Reina dubbed to replace him, it was young Spain U-21 winning goalkeeper David de Gea who transpired as Ferguson's number one target, After facing staunch resistance from de Gea's parent club Atletico Madrid, the deal was finally completed after the U-21 championship.
While he has impressed critics worldwide with his performances for Atletico and for Spain and also being touted to become Iker Casillas's successor, it is the lack of experience and big-game pressure which are being stated as areas of concern.
What works for him is his age, at 20 he has many years to serve United and getting accustomed to pressures of playing for a European powerhouse is something that needs a lot of getting used to.
Phil Jones
Signing amount: 16 million Pounds
Age: 19
Position: Central defender
Signed from: Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn's prized asset was snapped by United in the blink of an eye and under the noses of Liverpool. Tall, strong and possessing great awareness skills, no wonder the 19-year old was handed the retiring Red great Gary Neville's jersey number. With Chris Smailling already performing decently in his first season at Old Trafford, the duo have been touted as the next United and England defensive pairing.
And why not? With defensive mentors like Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic handling the defensive set-up, the young turks would definitely be learning from the best.
Possible signings
Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur) Valued at: 25 million pounds
Javier Pastore (Palermo) Valued at: 45 million pounds
Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan) Valued at: 35 million pounds
Samir Nasri (Arsenal) Valued at: 20 million pounds
Arsenal
The Emirates will be the embodiment of the brain-drain of football in the current season as marquee names who donned the red and white have become disillusioned with the club's ambition and their position in the League.
With the likes of Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy all running toward the Arsenal exit door, all does not seem too hunky-dory for the French manager Arsene Wenger as his bid to win silverware with the Gunners seems to be all talk and no substance.
Arsenal have failed to win any kind of silverware in the last 6 years and were beaten by relegated Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final in the 2010-11 season.
With little or no activity in the transfer market in the previous seasons as well, all Wenger has done has crowd the academy with further additions of academy players like Ryo Miyachi, with a marquee signing well and truly out of question.
What Arsenal have signed is a forward and a defender
Gervinho
Signing amount: 11 million pounds
Age: 23
Position: Striker
Signed from: LOSC Lille
The Ivory Coast international caught the eye of every manager and viewer alike with his blistering pace and his partnership with Didier Drogba at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although the Cote d' Iviore did not make it a long way in the showpiece event, Gervinho definitely made a name for himself in the footballing circles.
While playing as a forward, he can also play behind the central striker and can be a perfect foil to Robin Van Persie or Maraouane Chamakh. He can also lend solidity to the already strengthened wing-department of Arsenal by playing on the left side of the wing.
Carl Jenkinson
Signing amount: 1 million Pounds
Age: 19
Position: Defender
Signed from: Charlton Athletic
Arsenal's first signing of the season, the Charlton starlet has been on the radar of a lot of the English clubs, Jenkinson has represented both England and Finland at youth international level. He prefers to play in the right-back or as so he was employed by Charlton Athletic, but Wenger sees him as an understudy to Thomas Vermalaen.
Possible Signings
Ricky Alvarez (Velez Sarsfeld) Valued at: 10.8 million pounds
Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain (Southampton) Valued at: 10 million pounds
Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers) Valued at: 17 million pounds
Chris Samba (Blackburn Rovers) Valued at: 12 million pounds
Chelsea
The Stamford Bridge game of musical chairs did not lose pace as after the sacking of ex-AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, Blues owner Roman Abrahmovich now started looking for his 7 manager in 7 years and as usual the oil billionaire did it in some style. Late Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho hybrid young Andre Villas-Boas was almost like a new signing for Chelsea as he lured the young manager from Porto after agreeing to a whopping 13-million pound release clause and unveiling the Portuguese at Chelsea. He broke the bank in the winter transfer window to secure the services of Fernando Torres and defender David Luiz for a little over 72 million Pounds. It seems the obsession for the European prize has not cooled and going by current news and rumours the Russian has given Boas a warchest of 90 million Pounds. Inspite of being linked to many a player, a signing has still not been made.
Possible signings
Romelo Lukaku (LSC Anderlecht) Valued at: 17 million pounds
Neymar (Santos FC) Valued at: 41 million pounds
Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur) Vluaed at: 35 million pounds
Javier Pastore (Palermo) Valued at: 45 million Pounds
Manchester City
The blue half of Manchester City has been the usual suspects when it comes to spending absorbent amounts of money on player fees and wages but after a season in which the Sky Blues posed a challenge for the league title and managed to win the FA Cup beating their bitter rivals Manchester United on the way, things are certainly looking up for Roberto Mancini's man. Being buoyed by qualifying for the Champions League has not at all harmed their ambition and after being absolutely dormant in the transfer market things have been picking up pace at the Eastlands.
With wantaway captain and striker Carlos Tevez most probably heading for the exit door, expect the Mancunians to hire a lot of new faces before the close of the transfer window.
City have although kicked off their spending by signing defenders on either side of the pitch
Gael Clichy
Signing amount: 7 million pounds
Age: 25
Position: Left-back
Signed from: Arsenal
Arsenal's first player to bid adieu to the Gunner's dwindling fortunes headed straight for Eastlands. Manchester City pounced on the chance to acquire the left-back on the cheap. With only one year left on his Arsenal contract and the desire to play for the London club nearly extinguished, City's Champions League ambition and obviously the hefty pay-packet which saw Clichy almost double his salary to 90,000 pounds could be the primary reasons for his move. Liverpool had almost snapped the defender. With Clichy's arrival, it makes Alexander Kolarov his understudy and makes ex-Chelsea man Wayne Bridge surplus to the club's requirement.
Stefan Savic
Signing amount: 7 million Pounds
Age: 20
Position: Centre back
Signed from: Partizan Belgrade
Yet another defence-minded player which joins the huge City squad ahead of the pre-season training. The young Montenegro international very recently was spotted by City as a replacement for German Jerome Boateng after the centre-half joined Bayern Munich in the summer. With Gael Clichy's move done and dusted, City have been swift to finalise terms with the young defender. Partizan were holding out for £9m for the centre-half because of a sell-on clause entitling Savic’s former club, BSK Borca, to half of any transfer fee.
Possible signings
Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid) Valued at: 40 million pounds
Alexis Sanchez (Udinese) Valued at: 44 million Pounds
Samir Nasri (Arsenal) Valued at: 20 million pounds
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