Summer of Signings

The summer signing spree continues. Clubs armed with new billionaire owners and cash from the new TV deal are going all out to get their man. Money is pouring into EPL, which is by far the most attractive league in the world. Move over millionaires. It's now billionaires who seek to buy football clubs and turn them into money-making enterprises. Ex-Thai PM Shinowatra has bought ManCity and brought in Eriksson (ManU fans, rejoice!) as the new manager. Newcastle and Birmingham are other clubs who have new owners. Taking a look at some of the major signings this summer...

ManU
It has been ManU all the way, splashing the most cash to get Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, and most probably Tevez too. That would take ManU's spending to about 70 million pounds. The Glazers might seem spendthrift but then they know they will have to invest to make money. Btw, ManU fans can forget big money signings for at least another 10 years.

Liverpool
It's a fight between the Kop and Spurs for the 2nd place in spending most money. Until now, the Reds have bought Torres (£20.2m), Babel (£12m), Benayoun (£4m), Voronin (free), and about a thousand youngsters. Liverpool have strengthened the squad and should provide stiff challenge to Chelsea and ManU.

Tottenham
G Bale (£10m), D Bent (£16.5m), A Taarabt, Y Berchiche, Y Kaboul. Expect Tottenham to make more signings. But I expect Tottenham to stutter again and finish fifth.

Chelsea
Malouda(£12m), free - Sidwell, Pizzaro, Alex, Ben Haim. Chelsea have a strong squad and good backup players too. Mourinho has intended to revert to his 4-3-3 formation and that should be a lot better than the snoozefest provided by their 4-5-1 formation of last season.

Arsenal
Eduardo Da Silva (D Zagreb, £8m), L Fabianski (Legia Warsaw, £2m), H Nordveit (FK Haugesund, £2m), B Sagna (Auxerre, £6m rising to £8m)
Henry moving to Barca might be a blessing in disguise. Youngsters will have to come to the forefront and I am sure Wenger will see to that. Arsenal might even challenge for the title if they can get one of their strikers to score more than 20 goals this season.

What's Hot and What's Not?

ManU sign Porto's Anderson and Sporting Lisbon's Nani. The duo are dubbed as the new 'Ronaldinho' and 'C.Ronaldo' respectively, in a deal over 40 million pounds. The Hargreaves saga looks like it's finally over with the player set to join ManU in a 17 million pound deal. Well, with the Glazers splashing so much cash, ManU fans can now look forward to no more signings for the next 5 years!

Anelka is linked with ManU in a 8 million pound transfer. I am sure by the time he retires, the total money spent on him by clubs would exceed $1 billion!

Looks like West Ham has won the battle with Newcastle in the race to sign Man City's bad-boy Joey Barton. That's right. Barton is set to sign for Newcastle, having rejected West Ham. Can I hear West Ham fans heaving a sigh of relief?

The most ridiculous transfer news item..."Barca will swap Eto'o with Henry and pay an additional 17 million pounds." That would be the most preposterous transfer ever since Chelsea paid 30 million pounds for striker Shevchenko.

Chelsea have spent just $1 in the transfer market, getting back their on-loan defender Alex back from PSV and have signed on out-of-contract players such as Steve Sidwell and Claudio Pizzaro. However, I can see another 30 million pound signing (definitely a striker) in the offing.

Believe it or not, Wigan has signed on defender Titus Bramble from Newcastle. Let's just say it's the end of Wigan's Premiership hopes and the beginning of Newcastle's!

Steve McClaren has brought back David Beckham into the England squad. Good way to admit to the English fans and the press his team can never score through open play.

Lampard was booed by English fans during friendly draw with Brazil. Yes, only Lamps! Mac finally got some respite.

Ever heard of the player who gave up his dream of being a celebrity chef because it was too stressful and then became one of the most successsful managers of all-time? That's Sir Alex Ferguson for you!

Best Moments of the EPL Season 2006/07

Best match - ManU's destruction of Bolton home and away.

Goals of the season - Drobga's winner over Howard against Everton at Goodison Park and Scholes' cracking volley at Newcastle.

Best team performance - Wigan's final day escapade.

Unsung hero - Everton defender Yobo

Funniest moment - Chelsea's guard of honour for Dong, Eagles, Lee, and co.

The season in 5 words - Exhilarating, Dubious, Ferguson, Tevez, Shocking.