Premier League / Mike Norman / 15 June 2009 / 1 Comments

It appears that Real Madrid have cornered the market when it comes to signing new players says "Mystical" Mike Norman, but expect the Premier League to see a lot more transfer activity in the weeks ahead...

Just a quiet week on the transfer front then!

It may have been a week when only a few deals were actually confirmed, but boy did the transfer activity step up a gear during the last seven days or so.

Spanish giants Real Madrid were seemingly at the crux of every transfer activity around, first signing Kaka for an amount in excess of £50m, followed by having a bid of £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo accepted by Manchester United, then strong rumours that next to join the second coming of the Galacticos will be David Villa and Franck Ribery.

Whoever next we may ask? Well with Madrid appearing to be in the market for every world class attacking player going, rumour has it that Ade Akinbiyi's agent is on his way to hold talks with Florentino Perez as we speak!

The big debate has been how Real Madrid can afford all these incredibly expensive players. The answer is a simple one of course. Perez has close links with the Spanish government, and I reckon he is claiming expenses on his second home, the Bernabeu, to finance all these multi-million pound deals. Or perhaps our government has made me slightly paranoid as to how politicians all over the world conduct their business.

On a more serious note, all these transfers mean diddly-squat to the Premier League... except the Ronaldo one of course.

With all due respect to the lad, I think just about every club and football fan in the country will be glad to see the back of him. It's a completely different feeling to when the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Gianfrano Zola and Thierry Henry quit playing in England. With those guys, first and foremost you got a feeling of sadness that you were never again on these shores going to see their silky skills, their professionalism, and the way they conducted themselves on and off the pitch.

The departure of Ronaldo is already a completely different one. Newspaper stories and thousands of forum posts along the lines of 'good riddance' are all down to his arrogance, his petulance, and his completely unattractive personality. What Gemma Atkinson ever saw in him when there are guys like me around I will never know!

Editor of these pages Jamie 'The Pacman' Pacheco has already detailed the impact Ronaldo's transfer has had on the various betting markets, which just leaves the question, who will Sir Alex Ferguson replace him with?

The overwhelming favourite appears to be Wigan's Antonio Valencia, with Latics chairman Dave Whelan admitting last Saturday that, "They (United) have been in touch with us and we will be starting negotiations very shortly, I would imagine".

Franck Ribery has also been mentioned in some quarters, as too has Arjen Robben, but for the time being it looks like Sir Alex is more than happy to bide his time.

Other major news regarding our Premier League clubs appears to be more to do with 'outs' than 'ins', with Chelsea duo Ricardo Carvallho and Deco strongly linked with Inter Milan. Deco was unfortunate that he had a good start in England before suffering badly with injuries. I'd like to see him stay for at least another season, but if he does move abroad it wouldn't be the greatest loss to our league.

Liverpool are insisting that Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso are not for sale at any price, but the constant rumours surrounding a move to a big Spanish club suggests that at least one of these talented midfielders may be on the verge of saying adios to Merseyside.

Premier League new boys Wolves and Birmingham appear to be the only clubs actually signing players at the moment. Birmingham have added central defender Giovanny Espinoza to their squad in addition to last week's signing of compatriot Christian Benitez, whilst Wolves have today completed the signing of Serbian midfielder Nenad Milijas.

Next week I'm expecting progress on Fraizer Campbell's possible move to Hull, which Premier League club Portsmouth defender Glen Johnson decides to join, and of course, Ade Akinbiy's transfer to Real Madrid. Then again, there's probably more chance of me and Miss Atkinson getting hitched than the latter happening.