We’re already in the middle of June, and though the signings haven’t been coming hard and fast just yet, that doesn’t mean that there’s a shortage of action thus far in the summer transfer window.

In this morning’s transfer news and rumors roundup, we’ve got tidbits from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Greece, with many big names and big clubs looking to spend, spend, spend. Some of the rumors are pretty concrete, while there is at least one in the bunch that, like Manchester United being linked with a move for Fernando Torres, are a little head-scratching, to say the least.

There are also a couple of signings to report, and remember, to keep up with all of the latest confirmed signings, check out our summer 2009 transfer lists.

England

Manchester United After Valencia Stars

There has been a great deal of speculation over the last few days about what Manchester United are going to do with the money they get from selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and it could be that a sizable chunk of those funds go towards signing Valencia stars David Villa and David Silva.

United are reportedly set to make a £45m bid for Villa (The Mirror). The competition could wide open between United, Barcelona (Sky Sports), and Chelsea for Villa, as his potential move to Real Madrid appears to have broken down (Daily Mail).

Meanwhile. Rafa Benitez might not like hearing about United making a concerted effort to land Silva, as the winger has been a target for Benitez for a while now but could be the subject of a £25m bid from United. (The Mirror)

Analysis: £25m looks to certainly be enough to land Silva, but even though they could outbid Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Chelsea for Villa, they could be out of luck if Villa prefers the chance to stay in Spain. Of course, if Barcelona land Villa, that’d all but free up the opportunity for a United move for Samuel Eto’o.

United and Boro In Downing Swap Deal?

Middlesbrough are heavily interested in Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, and there are reports that they could offer Stewart Downing to United to try to make a deal happen. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Both Scholes and Neville could be reluctant for such a move, but even so, it’d seem like United would come out a lot better in this deal, especially if they didn’t have to spend much of that sizable transfer kitty on purchasing Downing.

Costa On Shortlist To Replace Ronaldo?

Along with the moves mentioned above, United could be set to swoop for Gremio starlet Douglas Costa. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: Brazil’s becoming more and more of a hotspot for United, and signing a prospect of Costa’s ability and potential would be worth the fee United may have to stump up. He’s only 18, so he’s more one for the future and wouldn’t be expected to step in and star right away. But as Ronaldo did when he arrived at United, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn first-team opportunities immediately.

Bolton Lead Race For Veloso?

Bolton are back in for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, and after refusing to overbid for Veloso in January, could be in with a £10.2m offer for the 23-year-old, who’s also been linked with Arsenal. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £10.2m is still a little lower than Sporting might like to get for Veloso, but it could be a sign that Bolton are willing to fork out a little more in order to land him.

Bentley And Huddlestone To Sign For Villa?

It could only be a matter of time before Aston Villa seal the deal on a couple of new signings, as there are reports that they are close on Tottenham pair David Bentley (Goal.com) and Tom Huddlestone (Birmingham Mail).

Analysis: Considering their interest in Bentley, Huddlestone, and Jermaine Jenas, I’m surprised they haven’t been strongly linked with Darren Bent or Roman Pavlyuchenko, considering a forward should also be on their summer wishlist.

Several Sides Interested In Newcastle’s Martins

Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Everton are all interested in Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins (Tribal Football), but they could face competition from a mystery Bundesliga club (Tribal Football).

Analysis: Everton would be a great fit, considering the familiar faces that would await, but wages would likely be a stumbling block, and that could also be the case with Aston Villa. No telling what the situation could be with the Bundesliga club, but Arsenal may well be the best match financially – but that could all hinge on whether or not they sell Emmanuel Adebayor.

Fulham And West Ham Interested In Acquafresca

It’s a London battle for young Italian striker Robert Acquafresca, as Fulham and West Ham are both interested in the 21-year-old. Acquafresca was supposed to go to Genoa as part of the deal that brought Diego Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter, but he could yet move elsewhere, with even Juventus being linked with a move. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: I don’t have any doubts that Acquafresca could succeed in the Premier League, but if Juventus come in for him, that might be an opportunity that’s too hard to pass up.

Sunderland Bid For Cattermole

Sunderland have made a £7m bid for Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Well they sure aren’t sitting on their money, are they? That’s certainly a tempting offer for Wigan, considering it’s double what they paid for Cattermole just last summer. I don’t know if Wigan will offload him right now though, unless he’s just that eager to be reunited with Steve Bruce. If someone’s willing to pay 7m for him right now, they could be in line to get a lot more if he continues to develop well over the next season or two. Besides, the sale of Antonio Valencia will net a nice amount of transfer funds for Roberto Martinez.

Wolves Sign Milijas

Wolves have completed the signing of Red Star Belgrade midfielder Nenad Milijas. (The Guardian)

Analysis: For a little while, the deal looked to be in some doubt, but in the end, Wolves fought off some pretty good competition to land the free-scoring midfielder.

Birmingham Bid For Gomez

Birmingham have made a £1.5m offer to Espanyol for midfielder Jordi Gomez, who starred on loan for Swansea last season. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: With Roberto Martinez set to complete his move from Swansea to Wigan anytime now, Birmingham could face some competition from Wigan for Gomez, so it might be in Birmingham’s best interests to try to get him signed, sealed, and delivered as soon as possible.

Spain

Real Madrid Offer Sneijder For Inter’s Maicon

Real Madrid could be set to offer Inter Milan €20m plus attacker Wesley Sneijder in a bid for right back Maicon. (Goal.com)

Analysis: Sounds like a reasonable deal. Sneijder’s someone that has been linked with Inter, and €20m + Sneijder would meet the €40m asking price that Inter have for Maicon.

Italy

AC Milan Sign Cissokho

AC Milan have completed the signing of Porto defender Aly Cissokho for €15m. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: This time last summer, Cissokho had just made the jump from France’s Ligue 2 to Portugal, joining Vitoria du Setubal, and now, he’s signed for AC Milan. Talk about a quick rise!

Inter Closing In On Double Swoop

Jose Mourinho could be close to being reunited with Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, as Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti spoke hopefully about being able to agree a deal with Chelsea for the duo. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: Seems to be only a formality, really.

Juventus To Swap Trezeguet For Rossi?

Juventus are prepared to offer striker David Trezeguet as part of a swap deal for Villarreal star Giuseppe Rossi. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £15m + Trezeguet would fall a little short of Rossi’s buyout clause of £40m, but it could get Villarreal to bite, or at least think seriously about the offer. Trezeguet might turn down the chance though, considering the interest that he’s had from the likes of Inter, Real Madrid, and others.

Lazio In Talks For Barnetta

Lazio are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a move for Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Barnetta’s valuation is reportedly €10m, but even though Lazio don’t exactly have the room to break the bank on summer purchases, it shouldn’t be a problem to spend the right amount on a player who’s certainly worth it.

Germany

Wolfsburg Want Berbatov?

In one of the more interesting transfer rumors of the day, Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov is being linked with a loan move to VfL Wolfsburg. (Sofia Echo)

Analysis: Though things didn’t exactly go completely swimmingly at United last season, Berbatov’s not going anywhere.

Stuttgart Interested In Tottenham Striker

VfB Stuttgart could be targeting Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. According to Stuttgart general manager Horst Heldt, the Russian striker has come up in discussions within the club. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: After selling Mario Gomez to Bayern Munich for €30m, Stuttgart have money to spend and a big void to fill up front. Replicating Gomez’s 33-goal output from this past season might be a little much to ask, but Pavlyuchenko does have the quality to succeed in the Bundesliga, even though his struggles at Tottenham last season might convince some otherwise.

France

Shevchenko Offered To French Trio

Chelsea have offered striker Andriy Shevchenko to Lyon, Marseille, and Monaco. Lyon have turned down the opportunity to sign the Ukrainian, but Marseille and Monaco are still considering the chance to snap him up. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Safe to say then that Sheva doesn’t have a future at Chelsea, eh?

Coupet To Sign For PSG

Former Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet could be set for a quick return to Ligue 1, as he has agreed personal terms over a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Coupet moved from Lyon to Atletico Madrid last summer, but after seeing little time last season, will be back on familiar soil if a fee can be agreed. (Goal.com)

Analysis: With current #1 Mickael Landreau looking to leave, PSG needed to swoop for a quality replacement, and Coupet, with his long history of success with Lyon, certainly fits the bill.

Greece

Panathinaikos Close On Drenthe?

Panathinaikos are going all out in their efforts to sign Real Madrid’s Royston Drenthe, as they could offer £11m in order to land the versatile Dutchman. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: That’s about the same amount Real spent to sign Drenthe from Feyenoord in the summer of 2007, so I don’t see them turning down an offer of that amount. Drenthe hasn’t exactly blossomed at Real, and he wouldn’t appear to have much of a future there, so the only holdup might be whether or not he wants to move to Greece or to a more elite league.

“Transfer Rumors (15 June 09): Man United after Valencia stars Villa and Silva, Aston Villa close on Tottenham duo, Berbatov and Pavlyuchenko linked with Bundesliga moves, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

My Grandad always used to say “The Runners Up in anything are just the first losers”. It is a notion that is unlikely to endear himself to the man who he refers to consistently as “Bennertez”, as Rafa Benitez wakes up today contemplating being the “first loser” of this season’s Premier League.

But, clichés and mispronunciations aside, there is more to second place than meets the eye this season. Debates have rumbled long and hard on whether this current crop of players really is Sir Alex Ferguson’s (or indeed Manchester United’s) best ever, whilst defensive records have tumbled, and finally Liverpool’s long-held record as the most successful league side in the country has been equalled. It is a sobering fact. Liverpool have fans have long basked in their “18+5” boast. Theoretically, it is just one year away from being rendered superfluous.

Nevertheless, there is still room for bullish optimism on Merseyside, and not simply because being “first loser” is an honour they have only enjoyed on three occasions in the past twenty years. Yesterday’s hard-fought 2-0 win over West Brom at The Hawthorns meant that Benitez’s current charges have recorded Liverpool’s best ever points tally for a Premier League season, and a victory over Spurs at Anfield next Sunday will ensure they will break another record, the highest points tally for a runner-up in Premier League history.

Scant consolation no doubt, Benitez’s side were seven points clear at one point of course, before a run of five draws in eight games gave United an impetus they would not relinquish, even in the face of a chastening 4-1 reverse when the sides met at Old Trafford in March. Yet still the positives to be taken from a Liverpool perspective are hard to avoid.

Benitez has been under fire from certain quarters for his perceived lack of ambition at times, yet Liverpool’s status as the league’s top goalscorers would fly in the face of such criticism. Equally, the defensive solidity which the Spaniard is famed for has not been abandoned- only a criminally under-rated Chelsea and a record breaking United have conceded fewer goals in the league. And despite the common consensus being that dropped points at home have cost Benitez’s side in the end, the Reds remain the only side in the division with an unbeaten home record, and possess comfortably the best record on their travels.

The omens are good. Benitez has signed a new contract, removing one more distraction from the Anfield table, and the imminent appointment of a new Chief Executive to replace the outgoing Rick Parry (a distraction too far in Benitez’s eyes) should yield the transfer-policy power that the Spaniard has long hankered after. This summer, it is widely agreed, is pivotal for the club.

And if Benitez desires a blueprint for how not to go about making the leap from first loser to first winner, he need look no further than the last time Liverpool occupied the former position. In 2001-2002 Gerard Houllier & Phil Thompson led the Reds to second place, seven points behind a double-winning Arsenal.

Tellingly, it is the only time Liverpool have finished above Manchester United in Premier League history. That they achieved it having been deprived of their manager for five months of the season after a heart attack in October is something for which not enough credit if offered. Houllier had always spoken of a “5 year plan” to win the league at Liverpool. In summer 2002 they were entering the fifth year.

The omens, like now, were good. In his four seasons in charge Houllier had presided over finishes of seventh, fourth, third and finally second. The natural progression could be clearly seen. The Frenchman himself had proudly boasted upon his return to the dugout in spring 2002 that his side were potentially “ten games from greatness”. Unfortunately by the end of his transfer splurge that summer, his squad were potentially ten signings away from greatness.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, a place where mistakes are never made (or at least rectified immediately). Yet looking to Liverpool’s squad at the end of the 2001-2002 season, and the one which began the following campaign, it is impossible to wonder exactly what Houllier was thinking.

To refresh, this was a squad that featured England internationals in Jamie Carragher, Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey & Nick Barmby. Didi Hamann spent the summer of 2002 anchoring the Germany midfield as they reached the World Cup final, Sami Hyypia & Stephane Henchoz had established themselves as one of the best defensive pairings around, whilst in Jerzy Dudek & Chris Kirkland they had two of the best keepers in the Premier League. The rest of the squad was filled with the talented yet inconsistent- John Arne Riise, Patrik Berger, Igor Biscan, Vladimir Smicer, Milan Baros (who was yet to make his debut for the club) – and the dispensable older players- Gary McAllister & Jari Litmanen.

In short, it is easy to see where the need for strengthening lay. Owen & Heskey had forged a partnership good enough to see off fans favourite Robbie Fowler (sold to Leeds for £11m in one of Thompson’s first acts in caretaker charge), whilst in Gerrard & Hamann they possessed a midfield duo capable of starring for the club for years to come (as proven). Henchoz & Hyypia, with Carragher as cover, meant that centre half signings were unnecessary, and the same applied with the goalkeeping situation, with Kirkland seen by many as a future England keeper, and Dudek shining in his debut season.

The problems, patently, lay in the wide areas. Barmby would depart for Leeds that summer amid a string of injuries and loss of form, Berger was struggling with something similar, whilst Smicer had never reached any level of consistency since his move to Anfield in 1999. Houllier had been forced to address a problem with lack of quality from the flanks by using Murphy, Gerrard or, most sickeningly, Heskey in a wide position. It was clear that wide players were (or should have been) top of Liverpool’s shopping list.

Instead, Houllier spent a combined £20m on a defensive midfielder (Salif Diao), a physically-weak attacking central midfielder (Bruno Cheyrou), and a goal-shy centre-forward-cum-wide-midfielder with an attitude problem (El-Hadji Diouf). By the end of the year, none of them were first-choice. By the time Benitez arrived at the club he was struggling to give them away.

Diouf was, it is considered, signed at the expense of Nicolas Anelka, who had spent five months on loan at Anfield in 2002. At a cost of £10m from Lens, he had big expectations. His performances for an impressive Senegal side at the World Cup had given Reds hope that the man nicknamed “The Serial Killer” in France could be the man to add the pace and creativity that Houllier’s solid but at times prosaic side could often lack.

Two goals on his Anfield debut hinted at good times to come, but by the end of the season he had added just three more, and had sickened Liverpool fans with his spitting antics in a UEFA Cup clash with Celtic at Parkhead. The mistake made by Houllier was highlighted further by the antics of Anelka, who notched 15 league goals to fire newly-promoted Manchester City to a respectable 9th placed finish.

But if Diouf was a gamble which backfired, his international colleague Diao was simply a shocking signing. Houllier is known to have long coveted a dominant midfield force in the mould of Patrick Vieira at Arsenal, yet Diao from his first appearance at Anfield possessed neither the physical force, nor the footballing ability of his contemporary. At £4.2m, he swiftly became tagged as a liability.

Speaking of tags, Cheyrou arrived from Lille wrapped in one which read “The next Zinedine Zidane”, a danger sign at the best of times. A left footed attacking midfielder, six foot plus and with a neat touch; the Frenchman would make three appearances for his country during his spell on Merseyside, but would be exposed as criminally out of his depth when asked to feature in a Premier League midfield. Too weak for the centre of a four-man midfield, too slow for the left flank, and too inconsistent for a place in attack, he flitted around the squad for two seasons with only fleeting glimpses of his ability. It would be a further two years before Benitez could offload him for free to Rennes.

The lesson is clear, Houllier rightly believed that his side were a couple of signings away from competing for the title, yet failed to acknowledge the key weaknesses of his squad. Liverpool are known to have haggled over the price of Damien Duff- then of Blackburn and rated around the £12m bracket- during that summer, and the Irish winger would eventually move to Chelsea a season later for £17m. Ring any bells?

Duff would certainly have added plenty of purpose and quality to Liverpool’s left flank, yet Houllier opted to mould an unfit player into the role. It proved costly, Liverpool would end 2002-2003 in 5th place, outside of the Champions League places and nineteen points behind Champions Manchester United.

Benitez faces a similar situation this summer. His squad is in need of minor alterations as opposed to all-out surgery. In Fernando Torres & Steven Gerrard they possess a partnership of enough class to lead them to glory, whilst Javier Mascherano & Xabi Alonso offer a midfield duo matched by few in Europe. Pepe Reina is one of the top keepers around, whilst Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel & Daniel Agger possess the know-how and youth to keep Liverpool’s defence solid for plenty more seasons. And in Yossi Benayoun, Dirk Kuyt, Albert Riera & Ryan Babel, they have sufficient options in depth to ensure that their bench is always populated with a couple of game-changers.

Benitez is expected to resume his voyeuristic pursuit of Gareth Barry this summer, which again leads to question marks over the future of Xabi Alonso- wanted by Arsenal, Real Madrid & Manchester City if the red tops are to be believed. Without meaning to undermine Benitez, it is difficult to see the thinking behind such a move.

Alonso has been one of Liverpool’s key men in their most successful league campaign for nineteen years, and his passing scope far surpasses that of Barry. Listening to any of Liverpool’s current squad, it is easy to see that they rate the Spaniard as one of the game’s best. Barry may be a good player, Mr Consistent in an impressively consistent Aston Villa side, yet it is unlikely that he would prove an upgrade on Alonso.

More exciting from a Liverpool fan’s perspective are the names Diego Forlan & David Silva, both of whom have been linked in recent weeks. Forlan may well have some making up to do to the Kop following his exploits in a Manchester United shirt at Anfield, but his 27 goals for Atletico Madrid this season- the latest in a string of impressive totals since swapping the Premier League for La Liga- make him one of the hottest strikers around, and his propensity for the unexpected would add a fresh dimension to Liverpool’s squad.

Silva meanwhile is almost certain to jump ship from a club in crisis at Valencia, and can operate anywhere across the top end of the field with distinction. At 23, his best years are undoubtedly to come, and in Benitez he may well find a coach who can turn his mercurial talent into one which lights up the European stage.

At this point, such talk is purely speculation of course. Benitez is known to keep his cards close to his chest with regards to transfers- Barry aside- and there have been few words coming from the horse’s mouth in recent months with regards to specific targets. One thing is for sure though, there won’t be any Dioufs or Diaos rolling up at Melwood this summer. One hopes.

“Learning from history: How Benitez must avoid the mistakes made by Houllier” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.