Premier League / Ralph Ellis / 24 June 2008 / Leave a comment

Top managers are looking down on Euro 2008 with eagle-eyes, biding their time before making big summer swoops, says Ralph Ellis.

It's a twitchy time of year for football fans. Time was when you waited to see who your club had signed in the summer before buying season tickets - now the renewal forms are dropping through the letterbox before the old campaign has finished. So you've shelled out your hard-earned for a new campaign, and meanwhile your club seem to be keeping all the cash in the bank.

So far - despite all the transfer rumour and speculation that keeps the newspaper industry bubbling along every day - only eight of the 20 Premier League clubs for the new season have actually completed an incoming transfer this summer. And that includes Everton who have merely converted Stephen Pienaar's year long loan from Borussia Dortmund into a permanent deal. Of the other transfers that have gone through only Chelsea's recruitment of Jose Bosingwa for £16million and Tottenham's £16.5million swoop for Luka Modric have involved substantial fees.

That doesn't only make life nervy for fans, it makes it difficult for betting too because you can't be sure of the final make-up of the squads which will travel the marathon distance once the season starts. Liverpool, for instance, could be strengthened with £50million worth of signings in Gareth Barry, David Villa, Daniel Alves and David Silva, according to this morning's Daily Mirror. On the other hand the American owners might not let Rafa Benitez spend any of that.

But the signs are the market is moving as the date for pre-season training to start draws nearer. And Arsenal, having lost Mathieu Flamini for nothing and lined up the sale of Alexander Hleb, look like next in line to announce a big deal. In fact you could say it's already been announced as French starlet Samir Nasri has told his personal website that he's off to The Emirates from Olympic Marseille in a £12million transfer, and all the tabloids report the deal this morning. The Gunners haven't confirmed it, and even Nasri's own agent put out a statement insisting the move wasn't yet completed. But it's clearly on it's way and that's a relief for Arsenal fans who are also worried about losing Emmanuel Adebayor to Barcelona.

Or is it? Nasri might be tipped throughout France to be the new Zinedine Zidane, but he's not 21 until Thursday. So Arsene Wenger is again finding the brightest young talent from Europe with the aim of honing another rough diamond. His record doing that is sensational, but at some stage he has got to provide some experienced players to slot in among the sensational young kids and bringing in Nasri won't do that.

Last season there were buckets of money to be made by laying Arsenal for a top two finish when they hit the top of the table with six weeks to go. There always had to be doubts about how a precociously young team would handle the pressure of staying in front. And the same opportunity is there now with Arsenal trading at [2.02] to finish in the top two places this time. It's [3.2] to lay at the moment as the market settles down, but getting a bet matched anywhere between those two prices looks a safe investment for the season.

Five things you didn't know about Samir Nasri

1. Like Zidane he's of Algerian decent but was born and grew up in Marseille

2. He was spotted playing on waste ground in the French City and signed for Marseille at the
age of nine

3. He was the youngest player in France's Euro 2008 squad but was used only as a sub

4. When he did get on early in the game against Italy he lasted only 15 minutes before being dragged off again because of Eric Abidal's red card

5. He suffered a meningitis style virus a year ago which doctors never fully diagnosed

Tags: Alex Ferguson, Alexander Hleb, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Back page betting, Chelsea, Daniel Alves, David Silva, David Villa, Everton, Gareth Barry, Jose Bosingwa, Liverpool, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Luka Modric, Manchester United, Mathieu Flamini, Rafael Benitez, Samir Nasri, Stephen Piennar