F365 Features

FULHAM

Budget: Along with Roy Hodgson, ask Mr Fayed.

What's Being Said: "We have to make certain in the summer that we've got a stronger platform next season. The last thing we need is to find ourselves fighting from the offset trying to get out of the bottom three. We've given ourselves a chance to build that platform but a lot of hard work is going to have to be done to make sure it is built" - Roy Hodgson.

Hard work, Roy? Since when has been spending someone else's money been hard work?

Still, his sentiments are absolutely correct: if Fulham don't spend big this summer than another year of struggle awaits. Their back-from-the-brink escapology should not disguise the reality that, in most other years, survival wouldn't have been possible with 36 points. The table does not lie and Fulham's inability, even when taking in bad luck and Lawrie Sanchez's bad management into consideration, to average a point over an entire season a game is damning.

Yet Mohammad Al Fayed must be becoming frustrated at the familiarity of such demands. He allowed Sanchez to fritter away around £20m last summer on 13 players of average ability and then handed Hodgson another ten million to spend in January. In total, Fulham have recruited seventeen players in the past ten months. That's nearly a complete squad and the club's owner could be forgiven for reacting with incredulity and trademark invective upon hearing Hodgson's request. Still, it's not as if he cannot afford to sanction another spending spree. Have you heard about the prices at Harrods?

Young goalkeeper David Stockdale is already on his way to the capital along with Mark Schwarzer from Middlesbrough, although further signings may be delayed for at least another month as Hodgson intends to use his role as a UEFA delegate at the Euro 2008 finals as an opportunity to scout for new players. The capital itself and Hodgson's deserved reputation for advocating attractive football will be useful bait and Fulham fans can thus feel optimistic about the future. At the very least, there will be no second-rate Northern Ireland players moving to Craven Cottage this summer.

LIVERPOOL

Budget: The credit crunch has caused Tom Hicks to cancel plans to build a new stadium in Texas and has probably cut into Rafa Benitez's kitty as well. The Spaniard has cope to raise funds himself but his starting sum may be as little as £10m.

What's Being Said: "I'm sure we won't need too much. Our squad is much better and we maybe need to sign four or five players, but we will not need to spend big, big money. It is all about doing the deals at the right moment. I will not give you any names, but there are some players in the top sides who are not performing well and their cost was massive. If you want to win the title, you must spend millions and millions. It is not easy, so the key is maybe to sign the players that you need and the players that will make the squad stronger.

"...We have some signings for the next season done. They are senior players for the first team and young players for the first team and reserve team. Two of them are really close, young players, and one senior player is done. He talks good English, but is not English" - Rafa Benitez.

Liverpool's offer for Gareth Barry was revealing in two respects. Firstly, in the words of Martin O'Neill, "it was barely an offer", suggesting that Rafa Benitez has even less cash at his disposal than has previously been guesstimated. That suspicion was soon to be supported by Benitez publicly inviting Portsmouth to buy Peter Crouch for £16m, a stance that was tantamount to the Spaniard admitting that has to sell before he can buy.

Secondly, the apparent prioritisation of recruiting a central midfielder suggested that the introduction of a new formation was being considered. Benitez is already well stocked in the middle of the park, yet Barry's left foot would provide the perfect balance in the centrepiece of a 4-3-3 system that would see Javier Mascherano in the centre of the middle trio and Steven Gerrard to his right. It would be a formidable combination, as well as a system offering support to Fernando Torres.

If that is what Rafa has in mind - and it remains an 'if' - then his next move would be to hunt for a suitable right-winger. Dirk Kuyt is as much a willing trier as he is unsuited to the role, while the inclusion of Jermaine Pennant on the list of players offered in part exchange for Barry confirms that he has lost Benitez's faith. Another Arsenal refugee, David Bentley, would solve the problem.

With Crouch bound to leave and Andriy Voronin apparently on his way to Stuttgart, a support striker must also feature on Rafa's agenda. Yet the spine of his team - and squad - is first-rate. Daniel Agger is back in training and ready to compete against Martin Srktel to be Jamie Carragher's regular partner in the centre of defence, so Sami Hyypia's departure would be of little consequence.

Instead, Benitez's attention is likely to be focused on the pressing need to recruit wingers and full-backs of genuine quality. Udinese left-back Andrea Dossena is being sought, while speculation linking Wayne Bridge with a move to Anfield has never been quashed. One player definitely on his way is long-time target Philipp Degen, a right-back recruited from Borussia Dortmund on a Bosman free. Steve Finnan presumably joins the list of expendable assets at Anfield.

Yet the backdrop to all the rumour-mongering is the prolonged uncertainty over the club's ownership and the all-important matter of finances. Unless DIC's takeover is hurried through, and there appears to have been little or no progress in that regard recently, Benitez will have to raise his own funds for the four of five purchases he requires through crafty wheeling and dealing.

So far, the portents have not been promising. By valuing Crouch at £16m, he has only succeeded in persuading Pompey to cool their interest, while the £10m valuation of Scott Carson, which even the player himself has criticised, has caused Villa, already antagonistic towards Benitez, to look elsewhere. Benitez's desperation to raise significant funds is understandable, yet so far it has been counter-productive. An impasse has seemingly been reached and it may only be broken if he drops his prices. Potential buyers can afford to bide their time in the knowledge that it is Benitez who will surely have to blink first.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Budget: £50m or thereabouts.

What's Being Said: "We have a strong squad already and this just keeps it going. And I would imagine there is a good possibility of stocking up again in the summer" - Sir Alex Ferguson.

"One of Sir Alex's key strengths is that he is always looking to improve the squad. Alex will never allow us to rest on our laurels" - David Gill.

What do you do when you are domestic and European champions? If you are Manchester United you do what you always do: spend, and spend big.

Last summer, Sir Alex Ferguson responded to United's first title in three years by spending £50m and that is reputed to be the amount of money he will have at his disposal this summer. Indeed, it is the perceived success of last year's spree - although the contribution of Nani, Anderson and Owen Hargreaves was generally underwhelming - that has apparently given birth to this summer's outlay. "When you make big money signings like we did last year, it is fantastic when you see them come in and do so well," remarked chief executive David Gill as he explained why the club was intent on spending again.

Nonetheless, constant evolution has been the enduring theme of Ferguson's reign at Old Trafford and his work this summer is likely to reflect the reality that not even Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville can go on forever. A right-back will be pursued, and that task will gain in importance if, as expected, Gerard Pique joins Barcelona, thus leaving Wes Brown as the only plausible back-up to Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. There will be alarm, too, at the news that Patrice Evra is entering the final year of his contract given that the only current cover at left-back is the unsettled Mikael Silvestre.

But that's the small print. Unless Cristiano Ronaldo departs, which is unlikely, the headlines will be made by United's inevitable search for a striker - most probably a direct replacement for Louis Saha, although given his penchant for sicknotes and the treatment table, the Frenchman could be 'replaced' without actually leaving the club.

In unconvincing but enthusiastic remarks about Danny Welbeck, Fraizer Campbell, Manuchu providing depth, Sir indicated he wanted another striker boasting "experience". Dimitar Berbatov fits that bill, although question marks remain over his workrate and the exorbitant fee Tottenham are allegedly demanding from English suitors. Chelsea's need is the more pressing so reports that Ferguson is considering the cheaper Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of Ajax are probably justified. A traditional centre-forward rather than a second striker, Huntelaar would provide Ferguson with a more robust and physical option in attack. Next on his short-list should be Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz, who, unlike Huntelaar, is already acclimatised to the demands of the Premiership.

Ferguson, himself a former centre-forward, seems to find extra enjoyment in this particular type of recruitment. This year's signing will be the sixth striker bought by Ferguson for a fee in excess of £7m since 2002 (the others being Wayne Rooney, Saha, Carlos Tevez, Alan Smith and Diego Forlan).

PG