Ronaldo Finally Goes

Cristiano Ronaldo's protracted move to Real Madrid has finally been confirmed, with the Spanish club having deposited all £80 million into Manchester United's bank account. It didn't stay there for long though, with Sir Alex Ferguson already having spent £16m on Wigan's Ecuadorian starlet Antonio Valencia, and being tipped to add Karim Benzema in the near future.

United have beaten Chelsea to signing a big-name player, with Chelsea fans starting to get restless even though there is two months left until the end of the transfer window, and manager Carlo Ancelotti hasn't yet met the current players. Yuri Zhirkov is on his way to Stamford Bridge at some point, and will more than likely be followed by Boro's Ross Turnbull and Manchester City's Daniel Sturridge.

At lest it is looking less likely that the quality players will be drifting away from the Blues, with Inter Milan failing to agree terms with Chelsea on how much they should pay for Ricardo Carvalho and Deco. Inter say £6m, Chelsea say double.

City are able to let Sturridge leave because they are contesting for yet more top-class talent - Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Robinho will soon be teaming up with Carlos Tevez and Samuel Eto'o, although Eto'o is posturing for more money to make him join a club that isn't in the Champions League. Yet.

Portsmouth have released 5 players and sold one, with Paramot, Lauren, Little, Thomas and Djimi Traore not having their contracts renewed, and Sean Davis heading to Bolton on a free-transfer after seeing out his contract.

Arsenal's hopes of signing Felipe Melo took a turn for the worse when the Brazilian central midfielder signed a new deal at his current club, Fiorentina, which may mean that Arsenal look to old boy Patrick Vieira or possibly Yaya Toure, brother of Kolo, for some steel at the centre of the pitch.

Liverpool net a Finance Package

Liverpool's financial troubles appear to be over - first Gillett sold up his NFL team, and then the new Chief-Exec managed to renegotiate their £400m debt with RBS to ensure the club can continue to spend lavishly! £17.5m has just been added to the pile of IOUs, with Portsmouth full-back Glen Johnson joining the club.

Man City's Carlos Tevez deal may hit a snag or two along the way before its completion, with the Premier League scrutinising the deal at each and every step to ensure Carlos becomes a player of the club, and is no longer owned by a less-than-transparent third-party. The new strike force of Craig Bellamy, Robinho, Santa Cruz and Tevez isn't exactly terrifying, but it should do well enough to scare the Big Four into making more acquisitions.

An as-yet-unnamed team has supposedly been taken over by some more Arabs from the UAE, in a deal unconnected to the people in charge of City, with a 'Premiership club' already having signed the paperwork to transfer ownership. Portsmouth are rumoured to be the club, but have denied the claims.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has urged his Dutch team-mates at Real to find a way out, and a new club, ahead of the World Cup 2010. He wants everyone to be fighting fit. With the arrivals of big-money signings Ronaldo and Kaka, the Dutch contingent are available at bargain prices.

The TV rights for the Premier League games lost by Setanta have already been snapped up at a knock down price, with US TV giants ESPN landing the rights to the Monday and Saturday night games packages for some £40m less than Setanta paid for them. The SPL has now followed suit by re-claiming the rights back off Setanta, who will struggle without the football to bring in viewers.

City start Spending

Manchester City have got their summer spending into full swing, with the club looking to finalise the £15m transfer of Roque Santa Cruz in the next day or so (he is in for a medical right now) as well as dot the i's and cross the t's on the new £25.5m contract with Carlos Tevez.

Chelsea seem to be missing out on big player after big player, with a late bid for Kaka turned dwon, and Tevez now opting to stay in Manchester. Ricardo Carvalho and deco have already said that they wantto join Mourinho at Inter Milan, and another of Chelsea's key men from last season, Didier Drogba, has reportedly been on the phone to Jose too. Things aren't looking so rosy at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal completed the £10m signing of intelligent Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen. The talented centre-back should shore up the centre of the pitch for Arsenal, behind Cesc Fabregas, and is another canny purchase by Arsene Wenger.

Manchester United, having lost both Tevez and Ronaldo, are set to splurgetheircash on Karim Benzema and Luis Valencia, with Brazilian wonderkid Douglas Costa thrown in for good measure. Zoran Tosic, the Serbian brought in to play on the wing in January, has revealed that they all knew Ronaldo would be leaving this summer - even before the Champions League Final loss to Barcelona. Tosic hopes to stake his claim for the vacancy in the pre-season.

Liverpool's woes off-the-field, with the Americans Gillett and Hicks, seem to have taken a turn for the better, with Gllett selling his stake in his NHL team.

Ronaldo nets pay-out

Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to have a lucrative summer ahead of him amid news that he actually does have a secret contract! Speaking on Spanish radio, one of the Real Madrid directors admitted that the contract does exist, and will see Cristiano take home a massive pay-out whether he moves to Real or not.

One of the contract’s penalty clauses states that Manchester United's Ronaldo will receive around 30 millions euros if Real Madrid do not come in for him in the summer – making him a whole lot richer! On the other hand, if the transfer goes through and he ends up in Madrid, he will pocket a healthy signing-on fee as well as seeing his wages DOUBLED (and he gets to play for his ‘dream club’.)

One club that might be short of cash this transfer window is Liverpool – after they announced a massive £42m operating loss – much of it caused by the £21m in interest payments that the American owners forced onto the club. Rumours that Rafa Benitez would be adding to the Spanish contingent may well prove wide of the mark, with winger David Silva currently in talks with both Barca and Real, and striker David Villa expected to cost a lot of money!

Manchester City are still dreaming of a strike-partnership of Samuel Eto’o and Carlos Tevez, whilst their central midfield may be boosted by Xabi Alonso.

Chelsea have yet to start their spending spree, and are intent instead on securing the futures of their best players. Ashley Cole will be the first to sign on the dotted line, with Frank Lampard and John Terry set to follow suit to ensure that the Stamford Bridge side retain an element of Englishness.

With Bruce installed at Sunderland, and given a £60m kitty to spend, he’ll return to his former club to take Lee Cattermole to the Stadium of Light, before heading to the Spurs bargain bin and picking up Darren Bent. Tom Huddlestone and David Bentley will be out of the door to Aston Villa, whilst Harry Redknapp will also sanction the sale of Didier Zokora to Villareal.

Chelsea give up on Kaka

Another day, another truckload of transfer rumours, which is no surprise really given that there is no actual football to fill the back-pages of the papers with.

The Kaka saga looks like being concluded after AC Milan supremo Galliani admitted that they could not afford to pass up the offer of £70m for one player – and has already talked up a fresh start built around youngster Pato. Ancelotti has supposedly given up on signing the Brazilian for Chelsea, so will use his money on Franck Ribery and Valencia’s David Villa.

With Manchester City making a move for Samuel Eto’o, Ibrahimovich could be brought in by Barcelona to paper over the cracks. Eto’o is needed because Chelsea’s first signing this season is set to be out-of-contract City striker Daniel Sturridge, who is set to take home upto £50,000 a week in spite of having made only a handful of appearances in the Premier League.

Chelsea also want to sign old-boy Glen Johnson, possibly for as much as £17m, topping the £11m they paid West Ham for him when he was just a promising youngster. It seems that they have given up on Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor though, with the Togo international moving through the revolving door at AC’s Milanello.

Relegated Middlesbrough could be playing next season without Tuncay Sanli, with Rafa Benitez interested in ‘the next Yossi Benayoun’. The Reds have also been linked with Kevin Nolan, whose Scouse roots and hard-working approach could make him a useful understudy to Javier Mascherano.

Manchester United have decided that Fraizer Campbell and Danny Simpson are surplus to requirements, with both transfer listed.

Team-mate Michael Carrick appears to have jeopardised his international future by not telling the England set-up that he was unlikely to be able to play in the upcoming international rounds – there is no doubt he is injured, but he should have told Fabio Capello well before the Friday call-up deadline. Carrick looks to be recovering sooner than Owen Hargreaves, who is still unlikely to be ready for the new season in spite of spending the whole of the last campaign in plaster on the sidelines. Hargo has vowed to play again, but his career could yet be cut short.

Chelsea set for Busy Summer

He's only been in his job for one day, but if you listen to the newspapers, Carlo Ancelotti has managed to judge each and every Chelsea player's form and potential, decided who should go, and then decided who can stay and what is needed. Whilst he probably has some idea what is needed from watching the Blues on TV this season, the long list of ins and outs suggest he is an expert on all matters at Stamford Bridge within just 24 hours - even on Championship Manager it takes longer than that!

Out go Carvalho, Alex, Ferreira, Deco and Kalou, and in comes Pato, Glen Johnson (who used to be at the club), Kaka, Benzema, Pirlo and Xabi Alonso. Looks like the football agents will be having a credit crunch-busting summer.

One person who won't be leaving his football club this season is Manchester United's Barry Moorhouse. He hasn't played any minutes for the Reds (not even in the reserves) but has been deemed irreplaceable. Barry is the man who goes out and fixes any problems that the players may have, in his role as 'Player Liaison Manager'. His role includes changing light-bulbs, fixing rogue Jacuzzis, and so much more. Patrice Evra has no qualms with calling him at any time of day, and Barry is always available for whatever domestic emergency has occurred.

The Carlos Tevez saga continues to develop, with agent Kia Jaroobchian spotted in Milan to discuss terms with Inter's Moratti. United have been linked to a permanent move, and these talks may be to simply force United's hand. Reports suggest that David Gill (United's financial supremo) has been putting together a bid for the Argentinean, which will be submitted to Kia on Wednesday.

Newcastle United is set to be taken over by a group of Omani investors, which should give them the spending power to get out of the Championship at their first attempt. Michael Owen and Alan Shearer have decided that battling in the lower leagues is not for them, however, and will move on - Owen is tipped to lead Everton alongside fellow-crock Louis Saha next season, whilst Shearer may well be back on the MOTD sofa.