The transfer rumor mill is in full force once again, and almost all of the rumors revolve around some up and coming Spanish club that goes by the name of Real Madrid (surely a rip-off of the MLS side Real Salt Lake). This time the rumors concern Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has a rumored price tag of just £1.

In a summer full of astronomical transfer fees, clubs are beginning to look further down the pecking order to unearth some economical and hidden gems. Here are the five players still out there that would be bargains for whoever signs them:

1. Ronaldinho - AC Milan

The former world's greatest player may be fat and out of shape these days, but with his talent it remains a mystery why no one wants to take a risk on the Brazilian.

Going down... in price at least 1. Michael Owen The ultimate bargain buy. He always looked likely to leave Newcastle at the end of the season, and he definitely will now. Don't believe the talk that he is past it - if he manages an injury-free pre-season and is playing in a decent side, he will still [.

Take a look!

More pics (including the new Goalkeeper top) after the jump

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Discount Geordie emporium If you want to grab a bargain get yourself down to Shearer's £1 shop. Everything's a pound. Except Mark Viduka: he is about 250lbs. This sign has been genuinely fitted by a Sunderland-supporting professional signmaker! Spotted on The Spoiler

This gameweek is a double for a few teams including Fulham, which makes Brede Hangeland a fine pick for the next couple of weeks given Fulham's forthcoming fixtures (Bolton, Sunderland and Burnley after this week's double GW). Hangeland does well every season as a bargain priced defender, and is a key choice for those looking to hone in on Fulham's potential clean sheets.

And I don't understand it. The silly season is well underway and these pieces of brilliance are still with clubs in leagues below their level - some well below it.Each has had numerous suitors come and go without a transfer taking place and each would be a bargain of well less than €10 million - in fact, our top three wouldn't require half that much money to pry loose.

Jose Bosingwa is injured and out for up to 3 months, making Branislav Ivanovic a great choice. Previously Ivanovic was a rotation risk, but since Bosingwa has been out Ivanovic has played a truckload of minutes. In the last 5 games, he has picked up 4 clean sheets. Further, with Ashley Cole also injured, Ivanovic's spot in the squad is even more likely to be cemented.

Yes it's only a run out for the reserves but Gabriel Obertan looked like he was well up for it and pulled off some nice tricks and perhaps more importantly some good intelligent dangerous passes. The French Under 21 international looks like he could well prove to be an good signing and a bargain buy that no one saw coming.

Plenty of transfers are floating about this summer, but almost all of them revolve around familiar faces. Premiership Talk takes a look at this summer's hottest targets.

David Villa

Real Madrid have already clinched the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, and David Villa appears to be next on the list.

I decided to lower the bar for this edition, picking only players who cost their new clubs less than €7 million. Boy, am I glad I did.It turns out there was an awful lot of fine bargain shopping this summer - so much that I entirely ignored any and all loan players, including ones with buy options.

Fast Forward to 50 seconds for brilliance
You won't find a bargain player I love more in the Fantasy Premier League than Stoke's Liam Lawrence (5.5M). The free kick specialist has yet to find the back of the net for his club this season, but his first international goal today was surely a beauty.

January move unlikely, free transfer in the summer a sure thing?

Fulham v Arsenal tickets still available Click Here

Bordeaux have ruled out in-demand striker Marouane Chamakh leaving in January.

The French-born Morocco international was linked with Arsenal and West Ham in the summer, but a move failed to materialise.

"When we signed Wayne, it was a bargain at the time," said Ferguson. "We knew what we were getting. We had identified him a long time before that. We tried to get him at 14 and then again when he was 16. Eventually we had to pay that money for him. I said to him if he had joined us earlier he could have had the £26million for himself!

• Edwin van der Saar has suffered a broken finger and will be out for up to eight weeks. Check out the Community Shield this Sunday to see which of United's 5.0M backups will be the fantasy bargain for the beginning of the season. [BBC Sport]
  
• Everton's David Moyes has indicated that both Steven Pienaar (6.

In the old days, Reid loved doughnuts more than corner kicks
I was leaning all week towards Everton's Steven Pienaar - his goal last night in the Europa League only further confirming his chance as a Funny Feeling Friday selection - but, having selected Everton's Rodwell just a few weeks ago - and seeing as Pienaar is already owned by about 7% of managers - I went with an unlikely selection, the less than 1% owned Andy Reid.

The all new rumour reporting article system is in full effect! The Rumour Barcelona are set to make a £40million bid for Cesc Fabregas. The newly-crowned kings of Europe have made the Arsenal captain their priority target. Arsenal signed Fabregas from Barcelona six years ago for a bargain £750,000 as they took advantage .

Harry aims to pick up a bargain at the Bernabeu. The Rumour Manchester City are primed to pip Tottenham to the signature of former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben while Blackburn have been linked with a move for Ruud van Nistelrooy, another Spurs target at the Bernabeu. But Tottenham are determined to extract some .

Couple of things you might have missed, buried in the Guardian 'work' section. I only read this because I used the section as a mat to catch my hair while giving myself a haircut yesterday morning.

Haves v have nots in football (while everyone at the top has never been better, those down the leagues are feeling the pinch) some interesting nuggets on average salaries, etc (not as high as you'd imagine, given short careers, etc)

Working life - footbal scout

It was around this time that he spotted a bargain buy while compiling one of his dossiers on Peterborough United.

Interesting to see Chelsea line up with Ivanovic starting at right back with no apparent injury to Bosignwa. Combine that with Bayern Munich's pursuit of Bosingwa over the summer (that was never really shouted down by anyone at Chelsea) and we might have a bargain defender in the making.
Zhirkov doesn't even make the bench as he recovers from a knee injury.

With this month's transfer window full of lots of talk and little action, Phil Brown and Hull have quietly been going about their business. Hull, who were top of the table at one point this season, have finally hit a rough patch of form and have slowly been moving down the table. The Tigers now sit just six points above the relegation zone.

Arsenal's policy has come under fire but with one that is at the envy of most clubs, Wenger is right to question himself.
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With half an hour to go the stream of fans who exited the Emirates seemed endless.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher is already turning his mind towards next season and the absence of a man who has almost become part of the furniture at Anfield - Sami Hyypia.
The Finnish international centre-back, a man who, much like Carragher, has come to symbolise something of the indomitable spirit at the club, is leaving Merseyside for the Bundesliga, and will be joining Bayer Leverkusen on a two-year deal in the summer.

It's about time Darren Fletcher got some recognition, particularly following the unfair dismissal which has cost him his place in the European Cup final.

From the RoM Manchester United t-shirt shop for as little as £8. Bargain!

"Darren Fletcher, Football Genius" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

So, it's official, Thomas Vermaelen has signed for Arsenal. I am as excited to see him play as I am to see what other moves Le Boss makes this summer. I've never seen Arsenal act this agressive in any transfer market. They are almost always last to sign players, looking around for a bargain, and frustrating us supporters with their talk of how so and so can fill in at such and such position.

Sir Alex's side got their first real run out of pre-season and got off to a flyer but were then pegged back in the second half where they managed to withstand a great deal of pressure from Riquelme and co.

• Will Owen Hargreaves Ever Play for Man United Again? (2)
• Man United Have Signed Bargain of the Season: No I Am Not Drunk!

Join me as I check in with what has been happening in and around the English Premier League over the last week.
Elano seals Gala switch
Bojinov set for Parma move
Two less bodies to choose from.
Petrov fitness a worry for Villa

Aston Villa are sweating over the fitness of their Player Of The Year Stiliyan Petrov who suffered a dislocated shoulder during the Peace Cup clash with Atlante.

Just because Premier League action is here doesn't mean that we're free of transfer rumors just yet. All summer long the speculation has surrounded Real Madrid, and Los Blancos haven't closed their books for the summer yet. Two of their Dutch stars are still looking for new places to ply their trade, and in Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart there are still two bargains of the summer waiting to be snatched.

Time for Harry to raid Fratton Park again?

Even though Portsmouth have now successfully been taken over by Sulaiman Al-Fahim it seems that the club may still see a few faces leave the club and one of those faces may well be Niko Kranjcar if the Croatian international decides that the club is unlikely to prosper after selling off the heart of the team in the past year.

Arsenal 2-0 WBA

Strictly speaking, this is no match review. I couldn't listen to the game, I didn't hunt around for a stream in a haystack and I've not got time to watch the re-run on Arsenal.com. So seeing as, at the time of writing, all I've done is flitted in and out of Twitter, I've not got a lot of insight into the game itself.

An argument for the negative version of bonus points: blunder points.

The Daily Express published some gossip today that may catch Fantasy Premier League managers' attention. David James (4.8M) has been linked with Manchester United.

It makes sense.

It's been a weekly occurance lately the Josh Wolff is up for Goal of the Week. He kept up his end of the bargain this weekend, and the Goal of the Week nominators tipped his first tally (and subsequent hang on the RSL net) as one option. See the goal below then go vote.

I decided to take in my first Houston Leones game this past Saturday. It was definitely an experience. The Leones are members of the USL's Premiere Development League, but I wouldn't say it is only for developing players. The atmosphere is also suited for developing fans, too.

My step-son's youth soccer game ran long so I was a little late getting to the game.

Jermaine Pennant is set for a shock switch to Spanish football - with both Madrid clubs keen to sign him this summer.
The Liverpool winger, currently on loan at Portsmouth, cost the Anfield side £8million when he signed three years ago but will be a bargain Bosman free transfer at the end of the season.

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Dave McIntyre BBC 606 £100k for Camp is a decent deal
Rangers have sold Lee Camp to Nottingham Forest for an initial fee of just £100,000 and believe it or not, it makes financial sense.

Everton may have just wrapped up a loan deal for Jo, but David Moyes isn't stopping just yet. The Toffees are now set to bid for Middlesbrough's Turkish sensation Tuncay. With Boro relegated to the Coca Cola Championship, Gareth Southgate is resigned to losing his biggest stars all at cut-throat prices.

Martin O'Neill's side beat the Old Lady of Italian football to lift the Peace Cup after both sides fought out a scrappy goalless draw. Watch some pretty horrendous penalties from Juventus including Alessandro Del Piero trying a cheeky one, only to see his tame effort roll very slowly indeed straight at Brad Guzan

Get a free £10 bet on Aston Villa by joining William Hill now.

Matches against Trelleborg tend to conjure up images of AIK struggling to break through a ten-man defense in order to break a stiff and cold deadlock. I usually hate those types of games as they tend to be the most nerve-racking ones. Although Trelleborg has shown themselves to be a far more positive team this season, I still approach this game with a bit of trepidation.

My apologies today - I'm not going to be able to host our live chat due to the presence of my in-laws and the need to spend time with them while they are here. As neither of them are big footie fans, that lends itself more to brunch and the like as opposed to sitting in front of the big TV, watching whatever match is on, and them being curious about what it is I'm doing on these here Internets.

What a deal!

BBC Sport's roving reporter Sam Lyon: "It doesn't take a genius to work out that Tottenham's training ground in Chigwell could be busier than a one-legged Riverdancer today, but I can confirm Niko Kranjcar is on his way there to sign from Portsmouth for what I believe is the paltry sum of around £2m bargainous.