There is no doubt that this season Manchester United have not yet played to the heights that have become expected of them. They haven't scored as many goals and don't look as fluent. Sometimes I think they miss Tevez, but then I see him play for Manchester City. He fitted perfectly with Rooney and his work rate made him a fan's favourite.

Benfica midfielder Angel di Maria has been the subject of much transfer speculation recently, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all linked with the Argentine international. A ridiculous fee of £36million has been mentioned for the 21 year old, although somewhere around £10-15million is more likely.

The Brazillians have long been regarded as the Kings of football, widely considered the most stylish, attractive and best football team in the world.

The samba stars have produced a long line of brilliant individuals: Pele, Zico, Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, the list goes on.

Everywhere you look or listen, Rafa Benitez's ability to manage Liverpool Football Club is being questioned. I've not been immune to criticising the Spaniard myself, as followers of the Soccerlens Podcast will testify, but I'm far from alone in highlighting his deficiencies. Even Liverpool's loyalist fans are split on whether the goatee-ed one is still the man they want to lead them forward.

Its no news that Liverpool is preforming quite horrid at the moment, sitting in 7th place, 11 points behind Chelsea. With the combination of poor form and the plague of injuries that seem to be following the lads over at Anfield, we can only ask come January who will help aid these wounds.

Hernanes:

This 24 year old Brazilian native is the perfect item to fill the whole left by the exit of Xabi Alonso.

Don't miss Adrian Clarke and Iain Spragg debate the beautiful game on Episode 28 of the world famous Soccerlens podcast.Â

This week's sprightly show features lively chat on possible Premier League expansion, the next destination for Man City rebel Robinho and a cheeky new way of ridding football of its diving cheats.

Much has been made about Tottenham's spending (almost £150m on transfers in the last 16 months), which presumably pushes them above the Big Four in spending and leaves them second only to Manchester City.

On the surface, it's a lot of money for not a lot of success. However, keep in mind that this Tottenham side has also seen a lot of exits, some of them at fairly good prices too.

Sergio Aguero inherited the mantle of star striker at Atletico Madrid from Fernando Torres and on Tuesday night he showed exactly why, scoring two excellent goals in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in the Champions League.

Aguero has been the subject of intense transfer speculation in the last 18 months, and there were claims by Atletico Madrid this summer that they rejected a £42m bid for the Argentina international.

Join former Arsenal player Adrian Clarke and celebrated sports journalist Iain Spragg for Episode 27 of the world famous Soccerlens Podcast.Â

This week's bouncy banter focuses on Barcelona and Inter Milan's Champions League concerns, big money transfers that defy logic, and Stan Kroenke's bid to take control of Arsenal.

The news that Gael Clichy is out for up to two months is unfortunate and may harm Arsenal's trophy ambitions. When he first started his career at Arsenal, he was very injury prone, with continuous operations on his broken metatarsals. He always seems to get injured at an awkward time for The Gunners, and will return in the New Year.

Join celebrated football pundit, author, radio show host and DJ Andy Brassell every Monday on the Soccerlens Show.

This week's episode focuses on the swine flu outbreak at Paris Saint-Germain, which led to a late postponement of the PSG-Marseille game that riled not only the supporters of both sides (and led to some unsavoury scenes between the two sets of fans) but also Marseille themselves, who were adamant that the match should have gone ahead.

Join former Arsenal player Adrian Clarke and co-host Iain Spragg every Thursday on the new-look Soccerlens Podcast.

These two highly experienced journalists love to debate all the hottest football topics with their own unique style of banter, make spot on (or otherwise!) predictions for upcoming matches, while also providing insightful interviews with a whole host of leading football experts.

FIFA have banned Chelsea from signing new players for the next two transfer periods (that is, the January 2010 and Summer 2010 transfer windows). This comes as part of a decision by FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) on a contractual dispute regarding Gael Kakuta between Lens and Chelsea.

As the transfer deadline drew to a close it seems French Side Monaco may have stolen the show with the move of the summer. While the big money moved the likes of Robben, CR7 and Kaka, it was the shock signing of Icelander Eidur Gudjohnsen for a measly amount of 2M Euros that may turn out to be the biggest return on investment

Yes 2M Euros, it's not a lot of money for a player of this pedigree.

Unlike last year, when summer transfer deadline day saw some records broken and millions upon millions of pounds change hands, things were a lot quieter this time around.

But as always, it's just as much about who didn't move as it is about who did move, and there were plenty of misses to go with the hits.

07:00:00 - Skysports news' transfer count down clock is flashing red - just 10 HOURS TO GO before the apocalypse! (or the end of trading, we forget which). Let the madness commence!

09:00:00 - Hmmm... so..

11:13:40 - Former England star Trevor Brooking is undergoing a check-up at his local GP's - Could he be set for a return to the WEST HAM midfield?

Soccerlens has brought you extensive transfer window coverage for several years now - and this year we're asking you to join us in compiling the most comprehensive transfer news database on the Internet.

Like before you'll have Eddie's excellent daily roundup of the latest transfer rumours and confirmed transfers plus regular updates to our transfer lists for 9 European leagues from Shahryar.

Tuesdays have never been so exciting. Even the institution that is the UEFA Champions League and the subsequent "Champions Tuesdays" fanfare it precipitated hasn't managed to turn a day of boredom and wistful gazing towards weekends past and future into anything more than a filler day.

Seasoned office conversationalists agree on very little- the Euro, Jordan, the eternal cheese versus egg debate- yet most manage to reach a gruff compromise when it comes to naming the most banal day of any week.

The summer transfer window is coming to a close, and there looks to be a flurry of activity still yet to come before the window shuts.

There are still quite a few deals that are up in the air with the deadline approaching, and you've got to be on the lookout for at least a couple of surprises and some nutty speculation from here, there, and everywhere as the hours tick down.

The big clubs have been relatively quiet recently, but it looks like things are picking up on that front as the end of the summer transfer season edges nearer.

Another long-running transfer saga has bitten the dust, as Wesley Sneijder's future has been resolved, and though it may not be the ending that he wanted in the beginning, it's the one that works out best for him.

After giving you a rundown of the latest transfer news and rumors earlier today, I'm back this evening with another fresh batch of signings and speculation.

Despite an extremely impressive performance in holding Liverpool to a solitary goal in their surprise win at Anfield on Monday, Martin O'Neill is making it a priority to bolster Aston Villa's defense before the close of the summer transfer window, and he's close to making at least one new back line signing, if not more.

With only a week left in the summer transfer window, time is running out for those clubs looking to make some much-needed additions to their squads.

Between now and Tuesday, we should see plenty of transfer signings and speculation, so strap in and get ready for the ride. The top clubs might not be dominating the headlines right now, but don't count out a few big moves on or before deadline day.

So, Joleon Lescott is offically on his way from Everton to Manchester City, after numerous headlines over the past several weeks stating how close the move was to happening, what fee it'd be, and so on and so forth.

In the end, Everton get a truckload of money, so does Lescott, Mark Hughes gets his man, and we get to add Lescott's name to our summer transfer lists.

Does it make good business sense for Celtic to sell two of the elite players in the SPL to Spurs?

There have been several stories doing the rounds this summer regarding Spurs and Celtic players Scott Brown and Aiden McGeady. With a 20 million pound price tag on the SPL duo it sure would make sense for the Mowbray to part company with his young midfield duo.

It's the weekend again, so it's time to turn the focus to the action on the pitch, but there's still a fair share of gossip to report on from the transfer pages.

The current holder of 'The Rumor That Won't Go Away' title is the Joleon Lescott to Manchester City saga, but another situation that persists involves Chelsea and AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato.

It looks like Benitez has worked around the financial constraints imposed upon him to find his man to fill Liverpool's apparent need for a new center back, and he's not the Premier League manager adding (or trying to add) quality depth to his squad.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have finally managed to offload one of their surplus strikers, but are they trying to bring in a new one just as quickly?

Monday was another light day on the transfer news and rumors front, but we still do have some top clubs looking to make reinforcements before time runs out.

Defense is still the order of the day, as a few Premier League clubs are in the market for additions at the back, while a couple of top European clubs are looking to add some quality on the flanks.

Even though the new Premier League season has gotten underway, several clubs are still very much looking for squad reinforcements.

Everton and Aston Villa have rounded out the top six each of the last two seasons, but if both are to maintain their lofty places, it looks apparent that a few purchases need to be made after both laid eggs at home to start the new campaign.

Today, pickings are a little slim in regards to big transfer rumors, but even so, you know you can count on me to bring you what's in the news.

A few Premier League sides are busy trying to strengthen their numbers at the back as the season gets ready to kick off, and as a result, today's roundup is filled with defender news and rumors.

Many a football fan around the world is in full-on rejoicing (or relief, for some) mode, with the focus shifting back towards club action on the pitch.

However, there are still more than two weeks to go in the summer transfer window, so there's still plenty of business yet to be concluded in the market.

Ligue Un kicked off last weekend, and champions Bordeaux opened their title defence in style, romping to a 4-1 win over promoted Lens. This set a new Ligue Un record - Les Girondins had secured their 12th successive league victory. The previous record of 11 consecutive top-flight wins was set by Lille 60 years ago.

The word of the day is...persistence.

Manchester City haven't given up in their pursuit of Everton defender Joleon Lescott, despite there not being any indication from Everton that they want to let Lescott go without a serious scrap.

While their persistence might not be paying off (yet, at least), it's paying off for Hull City.

We're less than a week away from the start of the new Premier League season, and though many clubs have solidified their squads for the most part, there are still a lot of moves to come in the next three weeks before the summer transfer window closes.

The two Merseyside clubs looking to be eying up a couple of talented midfielders from abroad, while Hull City are picking up some real steam in the transfer market after hitting brick wall after brick wall for much of the summer.

Oh, Inverted World! Besides being my favorite Shins Album, it's how I'm feeling about Twitter.  Allow me to explain.

I'm on twitter. I use it to connect with friends, colleagues, and American footballers who by and large are willing to have frequent interchanges with you on Twitter.

What a difference a year makes. Against odds, FC Bordeaux dethroned Ligue 1's 7 time consecutive champions Lyon to lift the Ligue 1 trophy. With 12 wins on the trot at the tail end of the season, FC Bordeaux secured a top dog status with its first league title in a decade. Along with the Coupe De La Ligue crown to secure a league and cup double, les Girodins wagged its tail at fellow title hopefuls Marseille and Lyon - leaving the former chasing tails and the latter stuck with its tail between its legs.