captaincy-wise, i don't think there'll be any major changes in the pecking order with cesc, kolo and almunia being the top three. the rest, is anyone's pick.

it's reported that RvP has signed a new contract, keeping him until 2013.

first-team defence partnership, my guess is that its kolo/gallas and vermaelen. there's all sorts of rumours surrounding kolo and gallas leaving, and it wouldn't surprise me if one of them goes. it's well-documented that they don't get along and the sooner that gets resolved the better.

there's also rumours that AW's planning a 30 mil double swoop for sneijder and huntelaar from the real madrid mega sale. while this would be fantastic, i doubt that we have that kind of money, unless we sold adebayor for 25 mil. not to mention the probable 15 mil for felipe melo.

so if those three of melo, sneijder and huntelaar comes, then we could have a lineup of:

almunia
sagna toure/gallas vermaelen clichy
walcott/sneijder cesc melo nasri/arshavin
rvp huntelaar

not bad at all!

there's talk of senderos going to fiorentina, although any deal would be separate from that of felipe melo.

bassong and mamadou sakho were two names being floated around for a while in that cb position, though it seems to have cooled down.

if ade goes then i would think that arshavin would play behind rvp. i have a nagging feeling that regardless if either toure/gallas goes, AW will not be buying another cb as he'll put song and djourou as backup.

will have to wait for the confed cup to finish before we start seeing more, dare i say, concrete news of any signings that might happen.

till later

though if any offers of 25m or more comes in for ade i think he'll take it