Summer musings

Here's an annoying footballer for you: Paul Dickov. I'm not really sure why he's managed to spend most of his time in the upper echelons of the football league, as he seems to have based a lot of his game on simply being a bloody nuisance. He's one of those small, irritating players who appeals for free kicks when he's shrugged off the ball, yet is ironically very aggressive himself. I don't get some players; they're physical when they don't have the ball, but as soon as they have possession they become the softest player in the world.

Anyway, it looks as if Dickov will be leaving Manchester City - along with Danny Mills (why is he still there?) and Joey Barton's best mate Ousmane Dabo. Sven Goran Eriksson appears to be getting rid of a lot of deadwood, replacing them with over-expensive foreigners. I don't know who half of them are. I'm totally ignorant when it comes to anything outside England and Scotland.

Why was Thierry Henry allowed to leave Arsenal for the paltry sum of £16.1m? This has been bothering me for a while. That's an absolute bargain for Barcelona, although I do feel that we have seen Henry reach the peak of his career in the Premiership already. There's no doubt that he'll do well in the Spanish league, but I wonder whether it will be to the same level he set back here in England.

Every top club has been spending big this summer, perhaps with the notable exception of Chelsea - relatively speaking, of course. It makes me wonder whether they've lost a bit of the hunger they acquired three years ago when José Mourinho first arrived at Stamford Bridge. I think it's fair to say that all the big spending clubs will be up there at the end of the season. That's a pity, because it's just gone to prove that football is becoming more and more predictable. Take League 2, for instance - do you know who the top seven clubs will be come May?

Since I've started my reportings so late in the day it's impossible to cover all transfer matters from the close season in all divisions. Even so, there is still time for me to make some predictions - more than enough to shake a stick at - so I'll report back soon with my thoughts ahead of the 2007/8 season. Why would anyone want to shake a stick at anything? That's pretty pointless...