The summer is traditionally a time for spurious football rumours and non-news stories, produced in a forlorn bid to fill pages and give football fans something to talk about. Not the summer of 2009 it seems. The season may have only just finished but already there have been big money transfers, takeovers and new managers for a number of top European clubs.
In keeping with the last few years, the Premier League has been at the forefront of most of the activity. Carlo Ancelotti completed his inevitable move to Chelsea from AC Milan, Steve Bruce has moved from Wigan to Sunderland and the highly rated Swansea manager Roberto Martinez, is set to take his place at the JJB.
With so much money floating around the Premier League, even the traditionally smaller clubs are suddenly attracting a huge amount of interest. Sunderland have recently been taken over by American businessman Ellis Short and according to reports, new manager Steve Bruce could be set for a huge transfer kitty as a result. In addition, it seems the club were not short of managerial options when Ricky Sbragia resigned – former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini was amongst those to declare an interest in the job.
But far from struggling to keep up, the rest of Europe has started the summer in a similar vein; perhaps buoyed by Barcelona’s Champions League triumph. Real Madrid in particular look ready to make a return to Europe’s elite. Former president Florentino Perez is back in charge and is wasting no time in his bid to build another team of ‘galacticos’. Madrid are already on the verge of signing Kaka for a world record fee of £56million and now Perez is claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo could be set to follow in the Brazilian’s footsteps.
Elsewhere Leonardo has replaced Carlo Ancelotti at Milan, former Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard has been appointed technical director at Galatasary and moneybags Manchester City have been linked with every player under the sun. All this and it’s barely June; what happens next is anyone’s guess.
