The 2010/11 season is officially over, which means the rumours can begin. Some will be, and have already been, outrageous, some will last all summer long and be resolved with seconds to go when deadline day rolls around, and some will just come out of nowhere.
Unsurprisingly there has been plenty to keep football fans entertained already, and even more unsurprisingly it's Manchester City who have been at the forefront of a lot of the summer's early transfer stories. With there not being a lot of time left before UEFA's 'break-even' rules come into play, if Roberto Mancini and the powers that be at City want to spend big they are going to need to do it now. With reports linking them with big money moves for Andreas Iniesta and a return to Manchester for Cristiano Ronaldo (£150 million, apparently) it looks like that is exactly what they have in mind.
Although it's not all big spending for the Citizens, with so many big names at one club there are going to be some unhappy players, leaving a field day for any of you out there looking for a rumour. The likes of Roque Santa Cruz, Adam Johnson and Jerome Boateng are all likely to leave over the summer due to a lack of games last season, and if the rumours about an influx of more big names are true, they are only going to slip further down the pecking order.
The one man grabbing all the transfer headlines over the past week or so is Carlos Tevez. Ready to go in January before reversing his decision, it seems inevitable that the Argentine will be off this summer. He further fuelled those rumours when he said in an interview last week, 'once my contract is up I will never return to Manchester, not even on holiday', proving beyond all doubt that the Blue's top scorer really doesn't enjoy life in the North West.
Manchester City's red counterparts have also been involved with their fair share of rumours so far this summer. Wesley Sneijder was once again being linked with a move to Old Trafford, before going on to apparently commit himself to Inter Milan, and England winger Ashley Young looks almost all set to join Alex Ferguson's side along with Blackburn centre half Phil Jones and Blackpool star Charlie Adam.
A new keeper is the top priority for United with the retirement of Edwin Van Der Sar at the end of the season. The highly rated Atlético Madrid stopper De Gea, looks to be top of Sir Alex's wish list, with Dutch International Maarten Stekelenburg also on the radar.
On the other hand there aren't many rumours of players wanting to leave the English champions, and why would there be? Jose Mourinho reportedly made an ambitious bid to bring Javier Hernandez to the Bernabeau, but whether there is any truth to that will probably always be a mystery.
Cesc Fabregas is once again being relentlessly pursued by his former club and European Champions Barcelona, but apparently Arsenal have slapped a £54 million price tag on the Spaniard. Whether that will put Barca off the creative midfielder they have wanted back for so long remains to be seen. Frenchman Samir Nasri is also reported to be leaving the Emirates, possibly for United, with Wenger once again ignoring the fans pleas and signing unheard of youngsters, the latest being a 19 year old Fin from Charlton Athletic (Carl Jenkinson).
Liverpool have recently acquired promising young Englishman Jordan Henderson for the arguably large fee of £20 million (and possibly David N'gog heading the over way). But as we all know after the last transfer window, Kenny Dalglish is seemingly willing to do and pay whatever it takes to bring young home grown talent to Anfield.
And Steve Bruce looks set to do some good business with the money from Henderson, being linked with a permanent move for Danny Welbeck (after impressing on loan). United's Darren Gibson and recently relegated Birmingham City's Sebastian Larsson are others being linked with moves to the Stadium of Light.
Tottenham have been uncharacteristically quiet so far this transfer window, maybe due in no small part to Harry Redknapp's outburst on camera last season after being called a 'wheeler dealer' by a reporter. However, I'm sure the usual Sergio Agüero and Luis Fabiano rumours will find their way into the mill sometime soon.
The recently promoted teams are yet to make any signings, aside from Norwich bringing in Steve Morison from Millwall, but QPR have been linked with a fair few players and with their wealthy owners Neil Warnock will undoubtedly be adding some new faces to his ranks in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, you would think play-off winners Swansea City are going to need Brendan Rodgers to make some signings to keep them up in their debut season in the Premier League.
With all of this and more already going on it looks set to be a pretty busy summer transfer wise, with football all set to once again buck the trend and defy all logic when it comes to the recession. And whether you agree with it or not, it is always pretty interesting and exciting stuff and helps to pass the time whilst we wait for the new season to begin.