Though Paris St Germain were in a relegation battle last season, they did manage to win the French League Cup, which qualifies them for the UEFA Cup competition. In preparing for their season, PSG has made some bold moves in the transfer market.

Their first signing of the summer was Ludovic Giuly from AS Roma. The 32-year-old left Italy after just one season and returns to Ligue 1 where his career began. He had six productive seasons at AS Monaco before leaving for Barcelona. Giuly’s Champions League experience will prove valuable as PSG embark on their UEFA Cup campaign.

PSG have also managed to sign Claude Makelele from Chelsea. He insists it has long been his dream to end his career in the French capital though he believes he can continue to play for some time yet despite being 35. Makelele’s performances as a defensive midfielder have caused many to label the role of the holding midfielder as the “Makelele role”. He was instrumental in Chelsea’s run to the Champions League final though he started less frequently in the domestic league. He has hopefully been able to successfully retire from international duties (he’d previously attempted to retire on two occassions only to be called up for duty again) and will bring a wealth of poise and experience to a rebuilding PSG team. He has been named team captain for this coming season.

Defender Lilian Thuram had hopes of joining PSG too but the club recently stated that they expect Thuram to announce his retirement from football. A heart condition was discovered while Thuram was undergoing a medical with PSG. Thuram’s brother died from the same condition and PSG president Charles Villeneuve has stated that he believes Thuram should not risk suffering a similar fate.

Villeneuve already has his eyes set on a replacement signing – AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta. Nesta, who is 32, has three years left on his contract and has spent the past six years with AC Milan.

It’s not all good times for PSG, they have lost two players to different Premier League teams. Bernard Meny has departed for newly promoted Hull City where he will be reunited with manager Phil Brown. Mendy and Brown worked together previously when Mendy had a loan spell with Bolton Wanderers.

Also moving to England is teenage prospect David Ngog, who is the cousin of Olympique Lyonnais defender Jean-Alain Boumsong. Ngog came up through PSG’s academy broke into the first team in 2006-07 appearing four times as a substitute. He played in 14 league games last season and scored one goal.

Meanwhile, in Holland new Ajax boss boss Marco van Basten has told eight first-team squad members they are surplus to requirements at the Amsterdam ArenA. Former Newcastle winger Albert Luque has been told to hit the bricks as have Michael Krohn-Dehli, Edgar Manucharyan, Robbert Schilder, Nicolae Mitea and Leonardo. Mitchell Donald and Vurnon Anita are available on loan. Midfielder Donald, who is only 19, joined Ajax following spells at amateur sides FC Bijlmer and Zeeburgia. He is still in the ‘prospect’ category and will look to gain experience with another club.

Also leaving the club is defender John Heitinga who has moved to Club Atlético de Madrid for a fee of 10m Euros. Ajax have taken that money and put it toward a few new signings.

Their biggest splash was for Serbian international Miralem Sulejmani arrives from Eredivisie rivals SC Heerenveen in a deal worth up to 16.25m Euros. The 19-year-old striker was voted the best young player in the Dutch league last season.

Ajax hit up another Eredivise rival, PSV Eindhoven, to sign U-21 midfielder Ismail Aissati for an undisclosed fee. The 19-year-old joins the Amsterdam-based club on a four-year contract. Also joining Ajax is former Barcelona central defender Oleguer. He will be looked upon to fill the void left by Heitinga’s departure and though no fee was announced it is rumoured to be in the area of 3m Euros and could rise to as much as 5m depending what Ajax achieve during Oleguer’s time at the club.
Finally, one of the busier clubs in the Premier League this transfer season has been Tottenham Hotspur. They’ve just completed the signing of midfielder David Bentley from Blackburn Rovers for a £15m fee that could rise to £17m.

The club has also signed forward Giovani Dos Santos, midfielder Luca Modric and goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes while moving out forward Robbie Keane, goalkeeper Paul Robinson, defender Pascal Chimbonda, midfielders Teemu Tainio and Steed Malbranque. Deals are still rumoured to be in the works for defender Younes Kaboul and striker Dimitar Berbatov, though the latter would be a massive loss for the club. Manchester United have made an official bid for Berbatov but it was quickly rejected.

Tottenham will compete in the UEFA Cup this season thanks to their League Cup win last season and they could certainly use Berbatov’s silky skills and ability to hold up the ball and create for his teammates. However, should he be sold the money will likely be reinvested as Spurs are rumoured to be chasing Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin, who wants to leave Zenit St Petersburg. They have also been linked to strikers Diego Milito and, according to the BBC, have held talks with Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.

If Spurs can land either of those two players they should provide a big boost going into the season. I rate Bentley quite highly and combined with the other signings that they’ve made, I am picking Spurs to make a big improvement on their 11th place showing from last year and I also think they will make a good run in the UEFA Cup.

It’s hard to label any transfer deal that costs 21 million Euros a bargain but considering the numbers that have been thrown around this summer, Ronaldinho’s move to AC Milan looks to be cheap. The former two-time World Player of the Year (2004, 2005) signed a three-year contract at the San Siro after enduring a frustrating campaign with Barcelona. At 28, I think he’s far from being over-the-hill or past his best as many pundits have been saying. A change of scenery and joining up with fellow Brazilians Kaká and Alexandre Pato could be just what he needs to rejuvenate his career.

Milan are hoping to bounce back from last season’s disappointing campaign that saw them finish fifth and miss out on a Champions League spot and are looking for the Brazilian trio to lead their attack. Ronaldinho has payed immediate dividends on the financial front as Rossoneri fans snapped up 5,230 season tickets the day he was unveiled to the Italian media as the club’s latest signing. The club’s official website reported that it received more than 10 times the average daily volume of visitors since news of his transfer.

As pictured to the left,  Ronaldinho will begin life in Italy with a new number. He will wear the number 80, he was born in 1980, as his number 10 shirt is already taken by Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf.  AC Milan stated on their website that club policy is that they have never and would not demand that any of their players give away their number.

The other big news story coming out of the San Siro these days is that Kaká is a reported transfer target for Chelsea. However, that interest appears to be going nowhere with Milan dismissing reports that they had received a mega offer or were ready to accept one. Milan’s vice-president Adriano Galliani stated “We will never sell him. Even if we received an offer of 300m from Chelsea. The only way we would ever consider letting him go is if it was his desire.”

Barcelona will look to Alexander Hleb as a playmaking left-sided replacement after he completed a reported £11.8m (according to the BBC) move to the Catalan giants from Arsenal. The deal could rise to £13.5m depending on how well Barca do during Hleb’s stay at the club. Hleb made 129 appearances after he joined Arsenal in 2005 when the club paid Stuttgart £11.2m for his services. Hleb is Barca’s fifth signing of the summer and he joins Seydou Keita, Gerard Pique, Martin Caceres and Daniel Alves in a new-look squad next season.

One of AC Milan’s main rivals for Serie A honors this coming season will be Juventus, who made steps to strengthen their midfield. They agreed on a 10m Euro deal with Sevilla for midfielder
Christian Poulsen, who has signed a four-year deal with his new club. Juve manager Claudio Ranieri’s focus appears to be on defence as he had early brought in former Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg on a free. Poulsen has developed a reputation for crossing the line and it will be interesting to see how Italian fans react to him. He was at the centre of the Totti spitting incident at Euro 2004 (Totti is still upset about it according to this goal.com article) and was labelled a “coward” for the treatment he gave Kaka (video link courtesy of 101greatgoals.com) during a Champions League encounter in 2006 while he was with Schalke.

The list of departures from Arsenal continued to grow as central midfielder Gilberto Silva leaves to join Greek side Panathinaikos. Arsenal signed Gilberto from Brazilian club side Atletico Mineiro in 2002 after he impressed at the World Cup. Silva was an integral part of the Gunners’ side that won the Premier League in 2003/04 and won the FA Cup in 2003 and 2005. Gilberto was relegated to a few substitute appearances because of the emergence of Mathieu Flamini and Cesc Fabregas. However, with Flamini and the 31-year-old Gilberto both leaving the club this summer, Arsenal will have to hope that Abou Diaby can take the next step forward. Diaby has long been touted as the replacement for former Gunners midfielder Patrick Vieira though he could have competion from Denilson and Alexandre Song.

One player not leaving Emirates Stadium, at least not at the moment is Emmanuel Adebayor. Ronaldinho’s capture has put an end to Adebayor’s hopes of moving to Milan. Milan’s vice-president had previously stated that only Adebayor or Ronaldinho would end up at San Siro this summer.

Meanwhile, after all the furor over Real Madrid’s expressed interest in Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United have tabled an official bid for Dimitar Berbatov, offering Tottenham an undisclosed amount for their star striker. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy says he has no plans to sell and has  lodged an official complaint with the Premier League against Manchester United over the comments allegedly made by Sir Alex Ferguson regarding his plans to sign Berbatov.

Levy has called Ferguson a hypocrite in reacting to comments attributed to Ferguson by The Sun, comments which the United boss emphatically denies having made. Spurs have handed the Premier League a dossier of evidence compiled over the last year and I for one tend to back Levy’s claim. If Spurs’ evidence holds up then Unted are likely to be charged with tapping-up Berbatov and the whole deal may fall apart. Ferguson is considering legal action against Levy for defamation and the whole thing is set to get very nasty.

Lastly, Chelsea have agreed to sell defender Khalid Boulahrouz to Stuttgart.  Despite not having a good season on loan at Sevilla, where he struggled with both form and fitness, Boulahrouz’s performances in Holland’s Euro 2008 campaign, has pushed the deal into £4m region according to a number of news sources. Boulahrouz failed to impress during his time at Chelsea and by moving back to the Bundesliga, he hopes to recapture the strong club form he had with Hamburg before making a £10m move to Stamford Bridge in 2006.

The summer spending sprees will soon start but Tottenham have already started their work with one purchase and heavy rumours of a sale in the very near future. Tottenham manager Juande Ramos began his shopping early with the capture of young Croatian star Luka Modric and the £16 million splashed out on that deal is the first step in the summer overhaul of his current squad.

As reported by EPL Talk, Tottenham Hotspur launched their new kits for next season and quite noticeably absent was their best player, striker Dimitar Berbatov. This has only upped the speculation that he is going to be sold at the end of this season though I’m not sure it is even fair to call it speculation when both his current manager and the player and agent have all made statements that would indicate a move is in the works.

Berbatov has two years left on his current deal and talks to extend the deal have stalled. Tottenham do not want his contract to run into the last year, when the transfer fee would drop considerably. They would be faced with the prospect of losing him on a free transfer in 2010 when he would be just 29.

It would be foolish for Tottenham to sell Berbatov to another club in England. I saw him a few times before he arrived at Tottenham but once I got to see him on a regular basis, he made a huge impression on me. Berbatov has sniped 46 goals and created nearly as many since arriving at White Hart Lane. He has incredible footwork and vision, and is a complete player rather than just a goal-poacher. He often drops a bit deeper to help support the buildup play and can zip the ball around as well as any playmaking midfielder. However, he can also act as a lone target man and can also hold up the ball while waiting for teammates to support. Berbatov modelled himself first on Marco van Basten and later Alan Shearer. And while he has not quite reached the levels of those two, Berbatov has become one of the top strikers in Europe, at least in my opinion, though I am not alone on that front.

In speaking with The Times after a match between Wigan and Tottenham, Latics boss Steve Bruce was almost lost for words. Bruce saw plenty of world-class forwards in his days as a Manchester United defender but had the mercurial Bulgarian. “He’s sheer class,” Bruce said. “He makes it look so easy. He reminds me of a top, top player.” Bruce would not be drawn farther – “I’m not going there, I can already see the headlines,” he said – but the inference was clear. Berbatov reminded him of Old Trafford icon Eric Cantona who had a short fuse and played with his collar turned up.

He is the type of talent that could tip the balance of power among the “Big Four” in the Premier League. I think he’d best fit into either of the playing styles of Manchester United or Arsenal with United the most in need of a centre-forward. That said, it looks as if he will be moved abroad, which will be a loss for the Premier League.

The clubs being mentioned as suitors are AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona. According to some reports that I’ve read, Tottenham would prefer to sell the player to Barcelona, with the overriding factor being a potential swap deal with Samuel Eto’o moving in the other direction. This would make a great deal of sense for both clubs and both players. Eto’o seems like he would be suited to the break-neck pace of the Premier League and while he has done very well in England, one can only imagine the beautiful goals Berbatov would score playing with the likes of Messi, Henry and Xavi. Eto’o who has made statements about leaving Barcelona has had a tumultuous relationship with the Barcelona hierarchy and coaching staff. Even in the past month he has made, and then retracted, statements about being unhappy with the lack of trophies in the past couple of seasons. Eto’o, also 27 years old, was quoted in late April as saying: “I’ve done it all in Spain, I’ve reached the heights here and so if I do leave I will go to another league.” He later clarified his statements to radio station Cadena SER and said the he intended to portray that he “would not feel comfortable playing in a team that signed me to score goals and to win, and I don’t manage it.” He said he “would not be able to look the fans in the face.”Barca’s rivals Real Madrid are unlikely to ignore the chance to go for Berbatov, though Tottenham may ask for Brazilian youngster Robinho plus cash from the current La Liga champions.

Berbatov is desperate to win trophies and also wants play in the Champions League while he is still in his prime. Tottenham are a full season away from the Champions League (at a minimum) and they will be entering a rebuilding phase this summer as Ramos looks to continue the changes he started in January. Both Barcelona and Madrid can assure Berbatov of that chance.

As for AC Milan, Berbatov has already spoken out about interest from the Italian outfit. In an interview in Bulgaria last month he said: “There is some interest on the part of the Italian club, that’s all I can say. I’ll be flattered to go to talks with them.” Much like Barcelona, Berbatov combining with Pirlo and Kaka could make for some ‘liquid football’.

Regardless of where Berbatov goes, the club look set to make a sizeable profit from the sale of the player as his stock has risen greatly after two excellent seasons at White Hart Lane. Spurs spent £10.9m to sign him from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 and that has been one of the best buys of the last couple of seasons. Spurs should receive between £20 – 30m in value for the player depending on the package offered them. One would be very skeptical that they would get £20m + Eto’o or anything similar to that.

The sale would help to increase the transfer budget of Ramos. As other possible replacements for Berbatov, Tottenham have been linked with David Villa of Valencia. Ramos has also been linked with a raid on former club Sevilla for their 20-year-old left winger Diego Capel. Capel’s buy-out price was £9.5m but once he’d played 40 first-team games, a target he reached against Murcia last month, the price rose by £2m. According to what I’ve read, Spurs can apparently pay the fee directly to the Spanish league office and then begin direct negotiations with Capel and his agent without involving Sevilla.

Spurs are also expected to make another bid for midfielder Lassana Diarra, having lost out on him to Portsmouth during the January transfer window. There have also been rumblings about Birmingham’s Olivier Kapo making a move to London should the Blues be relegated.

One player who Ramos will definitely lose is 34 year-old Czech goalkeeper Radek Cerny, who recently announced that he will join Queens Park Rangers next season.