Real Madrid has continued their massive summer overhaul and some big names will feature in new colors for the upcoming season. No longer wearing the famous white shirt of Madrid will be Dutch national teammates Arjen Robben and Wesley .

A more surprising move was the sale of Álvaro Negredo for the second time. Negredo has joined Sevilla FC on a five-year deal with the Rojiblancos paying a reported 15m Euros for his rights. Similar to the last time Madrid sold Negredo, they have asked for a buy-back option as part of the terms of the deal.

The 24-year-old is one of the hottest properties in Spanish football after scoring 31 goals in 70 Liga appearances for Almería over the past two seasons, including 19 last term as the club finished eleventh. That form (check out this YouTube video for evidence) convinced Madrid to exploit a buy-back clause in the deal that saw him leave the capital in 2007. I had thought that this might be the season he was given a chance to crack the starting XI but the big money deal for Karim Benzema was a signal of Madrid’s intentions to look elsewhere.

It was reported that English Premier League club Hull City had tabled an Negredo looked set to move to Hull in a 18m Euro offer for the striker, but Sevilla came in late and the prospect of Champions League football at a great club like Seville was too strong an offer to turn down for the young Spaniard.

Inter Milan’s search for an attacking midfielder ended when they signed Wesley Sneijder from Madrid for an undisclosed fee. I think this is a fantastic move for Inter though I must admit that Sneijder is one of the players I am biased about. The Dutch international, 25, has signed a four-year contract with the Italian champions after two seasons in Spain, where he scored eleven goals in 52 Liga appearances, helping Madrid win the championship in 2007/08. I think Sneijder still had a lot to offer Milan but spots in the midfield were going to be hard to come by with Ronaldo and Kaka arriving this summer. Sneijder has been capped 55 times by the Netherlands and has represented the Oranje at every major international tournament since his debut in 2003 when he was only 18. He joins new signings Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Lucio and Marko Arnautovic in José Mourinho’s new-look squad.

Another Dutch departure, Arjen Robben has joined fellow countryman Louis van Gaal at FC Bayern München for an undisclosed fee. It seems like he has been around a long time but the Dutch winger is just 25 and the thought of Bayern being able to deploy both Robben and Ribery on the flanks must have some defences nervous. Robben passed a medical this morning before putting his name to a four-year contract in a transfer rumoured to be worth as much as 25m Euros. Robben could be available for Saturday’s showdown with last season’s Bundesliga champs, VfL Wolfsburg.

One earlier move that I disagreed with was the sale of Dutch striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Real Madrid shipped him off to AC MIlan for a reported fee of 15m Euros, just eight months after they had paid AFC Ajax 27m Euros for his rights. Huntelaar’s goal-scoring record is phenomenal as he notched 76 goals in 92 Eredivisie matches for Ajax and despite being limited to 13 Liga starts at the Santiago Bernabéu, he still scored eight goals.

Real Madrid CF have announced a pre-transfer window agreement with Ajax for striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar. The move is intended to cover the long-term injury of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has undergone surgery as I reported earlier. The Spanish champions have been chasing Huntelaar for the past two seasons and are pleased to have finally worked out a deal (that could rise to 27million euros) with Ajax for the 25-year-old.Huntelaar will become the sixth Dutch player at Madrid, along with Van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart and Royston Drenthe. I think this is a fantastic move for Real Madrid as both of their main strikers Raul and RVN are over 30 and they have used Saviola only sparingly since signing him from Barcelona. Madrid have been struggling in La Liga, at least by their high standards. They are currently in fourth place after a 3-1 defeat to Getafe at the weekend, and have also struggled in the Champions League. They lost home and away to Juventus and had narrow wins over BATE and Zenit.

The hope is that Huntelaar’s arrival in January will provide a spark to the club and that he will be able to keep up his phenomenal strike rate. Huntelaar burst onto the scene with SC Heerenveen scoring 34 goals in 46 games. Since moving to Ajax, he has totalled 79 goals in 97 games. He also scored 18 goals in 22 games for the Dutch U-21 side before moving to the senior team where he has collected another 10 goals in 18 appearances.

ESPN’s Dominic Raynor has written an article outlining what he feels are the reasons behind the move.

With all the Euro 2008 coverage over at our sister site EPL Talk, I’ve decided to focus on club football though I am still actively watching the tournament games. I decided to watch the matches as a fan and leave the punditry to others for that particular competition. There is an ocean of information and opinion being produced about Euro 2008 and I didn’t feel I had anything drastically new to add.

So, focusing on club football, I decided to examine which players are being touted as the most likely to move this summer and where they might end up. For your entertainment (feel free to debate in the comments section), I examine the possible fate of 10 players whoe names you’ll be hearing a lot of this summer.

1. Mallorca’s Daniel Guiza is sure to move to another La Liga club after firing in 27 goals for his club this season. Guiza edged Sevilla’s Brazilian Luis Fabiano for the Pichichi (top scorer) crown with his 27 goals. Guiza scored his 10th goal in his last seven matches as Real Mallorca defeated Real Zaragoza 3-2 on Sunday although it was not enough to secure a place in Europe with Racing Santander holding onto the final UEFA Cup berth. Now that he has his wild lifestyle seemingly under control, he’s sure to want to test himself with a team that is either in the UEFA Cup or Champions league and while I don’t see him landing at Real Madrid, Barcelona are in a major rebuilding and could use a strong goal scorer. He could also end up with Sevilla, especially should Luis Fabiano be sold during the summer. Arsenal has also reportedly had some interest in this promising forward.
2. Lyon striker Karim Benzema is a name that has been linked to many clubs though he is being a bit coy over his future. Manchester United are known to be interested but United’s chances of signing him look distant after the Lyon forward stated his long-term preference for Real Madrid. “I like Real Madrid,” he said, “but I think I am too young to sign for a club like that.” It’s quite possible that Benzema could stay on at Lyon for another season as he is only 20 and Lyon are guaranteed to play Champions League football again next year.
   
3. Andrei Arshavin, playmaker for UEFA Cup winners Zenit St. Petersburg, has attracted a lot of attention from top clubs around Europe. Everton and Schalke are the names most often mentioned. Schalke seems more likely as their current kit sponsor, Russian oil giant Gazprom, also are majority owners of Zenit St. Petersburg. Arshavin would give Schalke a major boost as they rebuild and look to qualify for next season’s Champions League group stage. They enter the competition at the final round of qualifying and should be able to make it to the group stage.
4. Valencia’s disappointing mid-table finish and their financial problems (they are trying to fund a new stadium) mean that we could see a fire sale of sorts at the Mestalla this summer. Star striker David Villa has been on the radar of many big-spending clubs for a couple of seasons now. Both Barcelona and Liverpool are thought to be admirers of Villa but with Barcelona already spending a bundle on 4-5 new faces and Liverpool on a tight budget, I wouldn’t count either of them in for this particular move. He could end up with Arsenal as Arsene Wenger needs to bolster his squad and is at the Euro 2008 tournament to look over potential transfer targets. Villa would fit perfectly into the flowing, high-pace style that Arsenal are so capable of producing.
5. The rumours linking Xabi Alonso to Juventus had been persistant enough to make me think there is something in the works. Real Madrid and Barcelona were both reported to be interested in bring the former Real Sociedad star back to La Liga, but Juventus have since emerged as the apparent favourites to snare the 26-year-old midfield marshall. While nothing is confirmed, it is reported that a fee of 12.5 – 16m will be enough to see Alonso leave Anfield. Alonso has said he will not discuss his club future while he is playing for Spain in the Euro 2008 tournament.
   
6. Sporting Lisbon playmaker João Moutinho has already had a turn in the spotlight at Euro 2008 and will have seen his stock rise. Interest in Moutinho is known to be widespread but I don’t see a deal happening before June 15th. That’s the date that the 25 million Euro release clause attached to his contract reportedly expires, after which clubs will be able to negotiate a price for him that they hope will be lower. However, if he continues to play like he did against Turkey then the price is likely to go up, especially if big spenders like Chelsea are in the mix of suitors.
7. Deco. The 30-year-old Portugese midfielder had a disappointing season at Camp Nou and will definitely leave the club that much we know. The question had been where would he end up. I would say that with Jose Mourinho now coaching Inter Milan, it would not be shocking to see Deco link up with his former Porto boss.
8. Werder Bremen’s playmaker Diego has been talked about as a target for Chelsea and Barcelona. Diego’s Bundesliga goal return stands at 26 in 60 matches which is pretty decent for a player who by his own admission is more of a creator than a finisher. With his dribbling, vision and razor-sharp passing, he would be a good fit in any midfield but I don’t know that Barcelona need some like that as they already have Xavi and Iniesta. Werder Bremen chairman Jurgen Born has said that Diego will only leave “over his dead body” but I suspect that if someone comes in with the right dollar figure his stance will ease up. Where could he go? Juventus are in serious need of a playmaking replacement for the aging Pavel Nedved and their return to Champions League could see some cash being splashed around.
9. Ronaldinho. Once thought to be an untouchable at Barcelona, the Brazilian maestro has struggled through the past two campaigns with poor fitness and form. He has been linked to AC Milan and Manchester City. Of those two, I’d have to think that AC Milan would be the more likely destination. A chance to link up in the midfield with Kaka may be too tempting for Ronaldinho to pass up.
10. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has been linked to Manchester United and well as Real Madrid and others, is the Ajax goal machine who has been on “the verge of moving” for two years now. Is this his summer to move? Ajax are not in the Champions League next season and Huntelaar will be keen to test himself on that stage. Real looks like they would have a good chance of signing him after he admitted that he would jump at the chance to join Real Madrid after hearing a lot about the club from his Dutch national teammates Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder — all current Real Madrid stars. Real’s president Ramón Calderón has downplayed the rumours, saying that there are very few moves in the works for this summer. I think Real would be a good fit, at least in terms of atmospere, for Huntelaar. The presence of several familiar faces would make settling in much easier.