Manchester United have been the first major movers in the summer transfer window so far this year. After Paul Scholes and Edwin Van Der Sar retired at the end of the year the champions needed to find replacements and they have done so in the signing of Ashley Young from Aston Villa, with also capturing young goalkeeper David De Gea from Atletico Madrid. However, the champions haven’t stopped there by bringing their total spending this summer to £50 million by signing  highly rated young English defender Phil Jones from Blackburn Rovers.

The only other team in the top 6 to make a big move for a player have been Liverpool after they signed Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £18 million. Is this going to be the first of many big signings for Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool aim to get back into the Champions League and maybe even challenge Man United to equal their record of 19 league titles?

With Manchester United buying some young fresh faces to try and help them win a record 20th league title, what is in store for last year’s runners up? Newly appointed manager Andre Villas-Boas will no doubt have a few ideas about who he would like to bring into the club and with Roman Abramovich backing him in the transfer window who knows? Chelsea had a bid of £22 million turned down by Tottenham for Luka Modric before Villas-Boas became the new Chelsea boss, will the new man in charge continue Chelsea’s pursuit of the Tottenham play-maker or will he turn his attention to highly rated Argentinian youngster Javier Pastore? Another player on the Chelsea bosses’ radar is Birmingham centre back Scott Dann as the new boss has stated strengthening his back four a priority.

Manchester City made their first move of the summer with the signing of Gael Clichy for a reported £7 million, not a massive transfer yet but with the endless amount of money Man City have and the lure of Champions League football this term they will be challenging the big teams to try and win everything no matter what it costs. The only problem for Man City is that despite the Champions League football this year skipper Carlos Tevez has once again announced his intention to leave the club stating that his potential departure is for family reasons.

Last year’s Champions League debutants and quarter finalists Tottenham will have a big fight on their hands this year to hold onto the players that brought White Hart Lane some of the best European nights in the club’s history, especially with both Chelsea and Manchester United interested in signing Luka Modric and other top European clubs interested in the likes of Welsh star Gareth Bale and Brazilian midfielder Sandro. With no Champions League football this year the club will have to try hard to keep hold of these players and also try to compete in the transfer market with the big spenders of Man City and Chelsea to get back into the top four and back amongst Europe’s elite. On the plus side for Tottenham they have secured the services of 40 year old Brad Friedel on a two year deal after leaving Aston Villa on a free transfer.

Arsenal have already started the summer transfer window by selling, Gael Clichy was the first out the door at the Emirates to join Man City, with Cesc Fabregas looking at a potential return to the Camp Nou and Samir Nasri looking to follow suit with only a year left on his current contract who is in line to replace them? Can young Jack Wilshere fill the boots of  the Arsenal skipper? Arsene Wenger needs to start signing replacements or risk falling out of the top four and who knows maybe futher.

PENDLE VERDICT – With Manchester United making the early signings you have got to say that they have got to be favourites for the league at this stage, but can Andre Villas-Boas do what Jose Mourinho did and win the title in his first season in charge, or can Roberto Mancini upset the flow and get his team to become only the fifth team to win the Premier League?

YOUR VERDICT – What do you think?

FC Porto have confirmed that Andre Villas-Boas is intending to resign from last years Portuguese treble winning side. Boas is reported to have said that he is willing to pay the £13.2 million release clause himself.

Chelsea are still looking to appoint a new manager for the coming season and it looks as though Boas is now favourite to take over the reigns. If he is appointed, at 33, he will become the youngest manager of all time to take charge of a team in the Barclays Premiership.

Other candidates that have been touted as possible replacements for Ancelotti at Chelsea include Guus Hiddink and former Fulham boss, Mark Hughes.

PENDLE VERDICT – The honest answer is that we do not know enough about Andre Villas-Boas to make a judgement on whether or not he will be able to do a job for Chelsea. At 33, with so little managerial experience, how would we? How would anyone? What we do know is that he won the treble last year with Porto and in 2009, he steared Portuguse side, Academica off the bottom of the first division to finish in a respectable 11th place. He also learnt his trade by working with Jose Mourinho and the late Bobby Robson. We think that he shows great promise, but could be out of his depth at Chelsea!

YOUR VERDICT – What do you think?

Aston Villa have confirmed that Alex Mcleish has parted company with local rivals, Birmingham. He will be crossing the city to Villa Park where the length of his contract has not yet been disclosed.

This highly controversial appointment culminated in a protest held at Villa Park on Wednesday night where incensed Aston Villa fans voiced their dissatisfaction at the prospect of McLeish moving across the city.

McLeish will have his work cut out to win over the fans!

PENDLE VERDICT – McLeish is a good manager with a good track record, but there will always be a minority of Villa fans that will never be able to accept his appointment. The problem is that this minority is likely to be the hard core fans that will voice their opinions and it is these supporters that can quite often have the most influence.

We think he may have a few problems?

YOUR VERDICT – What do you think?

Steve McClaren has signed a three-year deal at the City Ground following the sacking of Billy Davies on Sunday.

This is the first time that McClaren will have returned to manage a club on home soil since he was sacked as England manager following the country’s failure to qualify for the European Championships in 2008.

PENDLE VERDICT – Steve McClaren has a very good track record managing club sides and we are sure that he will be a success at Forest. He just needs to make sure that he doesn’t try to change his accent or erect his brolly!

YOUR VERDICT – What do you think?