the season that beckons and is the money being splashed around justified

Finally the curtain has been lifted of the English season atleast, with chelsea pulling one over one of their esteemed "BIG 4" colleagues Manchester united.

After a summer full of high profile tranfers mainly to the Los merengues including names such Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzinho,Xabi alonso(all to Madrid) Ibracadabra (to FC BARCELONA) in exchange for eto'o(to inter) and a whooping €43.5 million , diego and felipe melo to juventus.

The question here is with the current economic climate crippling all the major economic bodies of the world is the world of football an exception..???

Look at the staggering amount of money being thrown around to secure the services of no doubt talented players but even these players, are they really worth all the money thats being thrown around ? you've got real Madrid spending close to €250 million in just a single transfer window to buy just a handful of the best talent available out there with astronomical fees such as €94 million for Cristiano ronaldo or €65 million for Kaka or for that matter even the €43.5 million for Zlatan ibrahimovic considering the goal exploits of the exchange deal beneficiary Samuel Eto'o.

And then again we have this Manchester 'No History All Cash' City splashing over 100 million quid over players such as Gareth Barry,Carlos Tevez,Emmanuel Adebayor,Kolo toure and Roque Santa cruz. Is anything worth those staggering sums of money is my question to all of you reading this.

However with the transfer deadline nearing and all the major leagues commencing in about 2 weeks from now (BPL in a week) all the talking will be done and we'll be off and running again..chelsea put one over rivals Manchester Utd with their win in the community shield but putting into perspective all other things I think Liverpool let go their best oppurtunity to win the league in 20 years, last year and am not completely convinced that they will be putting up another challenge for the top honours(especially after having let go off arguablly their best performer of last year in Xabi Alonso) in the league along with the much fancied duo of rivals Chelsea and Manchester Utd(seemingly reflecting on how to fill the goal void left by the departing Ronaldo) .

Arsenal though have in fact if anything made it harder for themselves to remain a part of the famed "BIG FOUR" by selling prized assests Kolo toure and Emmanuel Adebayor and buying little known Thomas Vermaelaen from Ajax.With clubs like Manchester City , Tottenham Hotspur,Aston Villa and Everton having managed to strenthen their squads whilst not losing out on their star players Arsenal will face an even bigger battle to hold onto the final place in the famed quadruplet than they did last year.My backing is for Man Utd or Chelsea to go all the way.

But what all football fanatics including me are surely looking forward to is the battle between the contestors of the El Clasico.Yes, I'm eager to see how the spanish season unfolds following El tricampeon's hostoric treble winning season and the return of Florentino Perez's Galactico era to the Bernabeu.Its going to be interesting but I certainly back Barca to produce the goods again me being a Blaugrana faithful.Valencia have done rather well to keep hold of Villa and Silva likewise for sevilla and atleti in case of Luis Fabiano,Diego Forlan and Sergio 'kun' Aguero so that i guess should make for a pretty enthralling league campaign in Spain.what intrigues me is whether El Inginero will be able to pull one over Guardiola and his men to regain what all madritas think is their own property and will he be able to gel a squad of superstars into an all conquering team.Will Madrid finally pass the jinxed round of 16 stage in Europe's Elite competition or will they have to see Barcelona defending their European crown at the Bernabeu?

The Serie A has lost 3 of its most coveted assets in Kaka,Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Carlo Ancelotti. So one would be forced to think it would garner less interest compared to the highly televised BPL and La Liga.But I think this year atleast we are likely to see a two pronged race for the Scudetto between the Old Lady and the Nerazzuri. Juve have capped off an impressive transfer season capturing the highly sought after Brazilian duo of Diego and Felipe Melo and Inter have been replenished with the arrivals of Argentine duo of Milito and Motta + Cameroonian hotshot Samuel Eto'o. I personally prefer Juve and Azzuri in the Italian league but Milan i think will take time to recuperate from the loss of kaka especially since they have made just 1 purchase in the aftermath that being Klass Jan Huntelaar.

Pls let me know on what you have to say regarding this post and reviews and comments are most welcome.