Waiting for the merry go round to begin

With the impending deal of James Milner going to Manchester City, maybe we shall at least see some transfer activity. Keane, Jenas and Bentley have all been linked with moves to Aston Villa, so it may only be a metter of time before at least one of them leaves. I would of said that bentley is the obvious choice as he is the closest player to match Milner, but as he is injured at the moment and Villa have Young and Downing, this may not happen.

Keane on the other hand needs to move on. He is clearly not happy and the Tottenham faithful, I know the irony, have not taken him back to their hearts after his move to Liverpool. Would we miss him? I don't think so. Currently our quartet of Defoe, Crouch, Pavyluchencko and Dos Santos looks capable of leading the line.

So lets assume we get about £8 million for Keane. One other player who could go is Jamie O'hara. Right up until he left on loan to go to Portsmouth, I thought he was a useful squad player with alot of heart to boot. But frankly his comments around the cup semi lead me to believe he is not a club man but a very selfish individual. Again O'Hara is injured which may inhibit our ability to move him on but I feel this move is inevitable. A move to Villa, Everton or Newcastle looks most likely. I think it would be likely to get around £5 million for O'hara.

Another player who is surplus to requirements is Hutton. We have a large number of players capable of playing right back including: Corluka, Kaboul, Walker, Naughton. The question is where would he go. It was expected he would return to Sunderland, however that seems to have gone cold. Maybe Newcastle, Brimingham or Stoke could be possible destinations. I would expect Hutton to go for between £3-5 million.

So who would we bring in as replacements. In my opinion the positions that need strengthening are left back, I see Bale as playing in a more advanced position and while I think Assou-Ekotto is a good left back, he was a weak link at times last season. My personal choice would be Benefica's Coentrao, who has been linked with Chelsea this week. I was very impressed with his performance on Lennon last week and would be a fine addition to our squad.

The next position I have concerns over is centre back. When all players are fit we are very strong but with King missing more than he plays and Woodgates likely absence for an extended period leaves us with Dawson and Bassong. Corluka has played there but I am not convinced about him, Walker is also an alternative but is still inexperienced. We should be looking at someone still relatively young but with some experience, my choice would be Ryan Shawcross of Stoke.

Central midfield is still not quite there. We have signed Sandro but I believe it will take him a good year before we start to see him up to premier League pace. With only Huddlestone, Jenas and Palacios there i am concerned we don't have someone capable of stringing passes together. I would go for an old boy in Micheal Carrick. he has struggled at Manchester United but would be a good additon to our squad and give us more depth.

Ideally we could use a quality goalscorer but i don't think we have the money at the present time, if a loan opportunity came for someone like Huntelaar we should grab it but this seems unlikely. This should be an intersting three weeks.