Both Manchester United and Liverpool are tracking the progress of former Chelsea holding midfielder Lassana Diarra. Hamit Altintop has become a target for Spurs and a host of other clubs including Atletico Madrid as his contract with Bayern Munich is due to expire in a couple of months. With Joe Hart being called back to Manchester City as a result of the injury suffered by Shay Given, Birmingham are now looking at loaning United custodian Ben Foster.

Elsewhere, Wolfburg forward Edin Dzeko has dropped a hint for the Premier League clubs by stating that he would be interested in moving away from his current club at the end of the season. Arsenal have opened talks with Gael Clichy over the possibility of a new deal. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have been monitoring Clichy’s progress and Wenger would not want to lose the French left back.

AZ Alkmaar’s £5m-rated forward Jermain Lens is attracting a lot of attention from Wigan, Wolves, Sunderland and Newcastle. Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has his eyes on Paraguay international midfielder Cristian Riveros who could well become the Black Cats’ first signing of the new season. And finally, in what could be the biggest transfer of the summer, Barcelona are edging closer to the services of Spanish star striker David Villa.

Milner signed a four year deal with Villa when he signed in the summer of 2008. After signing for the Midlands club, Milner has grown from strength to strength and is expected to be a part of Capello’s squad for the 2010 World Cup. He has represented Villa 63 times scoring 8 goals. Villa are wanting to offer Milner a new deal to ward off potential suitors. Milner has made a seamless transition into central midfield where he has been playing for the last few weeks. Visit Partybets for Aston Villa’s betting odds for their next game.

Villa are also looking to bring in reinforcements over the summer. They are particularly interested in Ivory Coast winger Kader Keita who plays for Galatasaray. Keita joined the Turkish club from Lyon last summer in spite of Everton showing considerable interest. The 23-year old has become a huge fans favourite at Galatasaray but a switch to the Premier League can’t be ruled out. Arsenal, Everton, Villa and Manchester City are all interested in his signature.

Eriksen, who made his first team debut for Ajax two months ago against NAC Breda, has been been tipped by club manager Martin Jol to be a future Wesley Sneijder or Rafael Van der Vaart. Both players honed their skills at Ajax before moving to greener pastures-Sneijder to Real Madrid and Van der Vaart to Hamburger SV. Party Bets is offering you all the latest Premier Leauge odds, results and news.

Ajax are reportedly keen to tie Eriksen to a long term deal to ward off interest from the Gunners. Eriksen is said to be quite happy with the way his career is progressing in Holland and sees no reason to leave the Dutch giants at this stage of his career.

Eriksen made his international debut for Denmark last month and is a possible candidate to board the Danish plane to South Africa this summer for the World Cup.

Vertonghen had spells with VK Tielrode and Geerminal Beerschot in his native Belgium before joining Ajax as a 16 year old in 2003. He was sent out on loan to RKC Waalwijk to garner valuable first team experience in 2006. He was a rare starter in the 2007-08 season but made his mark the following season after the departure of Johnny Heitinga.

Vertonghen is currently contracted to Ajax till June 2013. A versatile player, Vertonghen plays in midfield while donning the colours of the Belgian national team.

Real are also tracking the progress of Vertonghen’s team mate Christian Eriksen. The Danish youngster is widely hailed as one of the future stars of the Eredivisie. He made his senior debut last month against NAC Breda and has also attracted the attention of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Eriksen’s contract with Ajax is due to expire next summer but the club are working towards giving him a new deal. Head coach Martin Jol has already expressed his desire to keep Eriksen at the Amsterdam Arena for as long as possible.

Eriksen joined Ajax from OB in 2008 for a reported €1m fee. The 18 year old has already represented Denmark at U-17, U-18 and U-19 levels.

But comments made by Cesc’s father have added to the confusion. Fabregas Sr. admitted that his son would be open to a move to Camp Nou at the end of the season. Arsene Wenger though has been caught in the crossfire. He came out trying his best to douse the fire by saying ‘nothing plus nothing is nothing’.

Cesc Fabregas was a part of the Barcelona youth system and scored at an alarming rate for a midfielder. He moved to Arsenal in September 2003 sensing that his participation at Barcelona would be limited. With the emotional attachment towards the Catalan club, a move to the Nou Camp can never be ruled out.

Mariga had the option of signing for Italian League leaders Inter Milan but chose to come to the lucrative Barclays Premier League with Manchester City. City agreed personal terms with the player and he passed the medical at Eastlands only to have his work-permit application rejected.

After having his dream move to City blown to smithereens, he didn’t waste any time in talking to officials at Inter Milan. The move to Inter which was secondary when City were in the fray suddenly gained huge importance with the clock ticking towards the transfer deadline. With Inter having sold Mancini to their cross town rivals AC Milan, Mariga was seen as an apt replacement. Mariga signed a four and a half year contract with Jose Mourinho’s side.

Under this backdrop, his decision to choose City over Inter could have been financially motivated. That he did not choose to wait for six months at Parma to try and join City in the summer tempts one to think if he really wanted to further his career prospects in England. But Inter nonetheless are a big club and Mariga’s star will rise if he performs consistently for the Bianconeri.

The 22 year old who has 26 caps for Kenya against his name also generated interest from Italian champions Inter Milan. But City swooped quickly to sign him ahead of Jose Mourinho. Parma wanted the permanent signing of Valeri Bojinov as part of the Mariga deal. The Bulgarian striker is currently on loan at Parma from Manchester City. But City are reluctant to let go of Bojinov. Mariga will become Mancini’s second signing for City after Patrick Vieira.

Manchester City are also stepping up the chase for Boro winger Adam Johnson. City’s £5m offer was turned down by the Riverside club and Johnson was refused permission to speak to City. The authorities at the Championship club believe that the club would get a higher fee from the tribunal’s decision when Johnson leaves on a free at the end of the current season when his contract expires.

Top 15 Major Transfer outside EPL

Ibrahimovic transfer containing Eto player swap over to Inter Milan
Melo transfer containing Marchionni player swap over to Fiorentina

Niko Kranjcar (£2.5m from Portsmouth to Tottenham)
A bargain signing for Spurs to sign the Croatia International at the costs of just £2.5m. With O’Hara on loan to Portsmouth and Modric sidelined through injury, Redknapp has no other alternative on the frank other than Bentley and Lennon. It was also Redknapp who signed Kranjcar from Hajduk Split to Portsmouth in 2006. Kranjcar can provide alternative to the squad and at the age of 25, he still got alot to contribute.

James Collins (£5m from West Ham to Aston Villa)
Not really a good buy for £5m, whereby Collins is not that experience and solid enough, he also suffur from serious injury like injure his ligaments which kept him out for 9 months before. Might not fit into the squad immediately, even Aston Villa are lacking of defender with the depature of Zat Knight to Bolton and Captain Laursen going into retirement.

Danny Collins (£2.75m from Sunderland to Stoke City)
A good player for his worths, he was parts of the team which help Sunderland won promotion to the top flight in 06/07 and played a solid parts in helping Sunderland to survive in the Premier League up till now. He will put on pressure to the partnership of Faye and Shawcross who has featured in all 4 league game for Stoke City now.

David Nugent( On Loan from Portsmouth to Burnley)
Not enough first team action lead him to join Burnley instead. With Portsmouth played 4 game so far, but Nugent only been appear in field around 30minute from 3 time of subsitute in. It seem wierd for Portsmouth to loan away a £6 million striker after losing 4 match in a row since the start of the season instead of trying out new combination in the frontline.

Tal Ben-Haim(Free Transfer from Man City to Portsmouth)
An unwanted players in Man City with just 9 appearance before joining Sunderland on loan at Jan this years. A good boost for Portsmouth just before market closed to strengthen their backline. Portsmouth so far has lost all their starting 4 matches, and with Sol Campbell and Sylvain Distin left the clubs, Portsmouth will be desperate for Ben-Haim reinforcement the backline.

Richard Dunne(£6 million from Man City to Aston Villa)
Another decent signing just an hours before transfer market closed. It was also another expected deal since Man City bought in Toure and Lescott into the club which dropped Dunne to the 3rd choice of center back in Mark Hughes plan. Instead of waiting for his chance, Dunne joined Aston Villa which he can be feature regularly instead. With Aston Villa crashed out in Europa Cup so early in the season, they can put all their heart focusing on a top 4 finish instead of giving away points and let Arsenal eventually caught up.

Stephen Hunt
It cost Hull City £3 millions to sign him from Reading. After a few good seasons with Reading, returning to the English Premier League with Hull City is a refreshing change for the winger. He is known for his footwork and creative, along with his work rate as a winger to run across the field with endless stamina. He would probably be developed into a playmaker for the team.

Both of these players will likely be featured in their opening match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Can Hull City displayed a repeat of their last season with tremendous results for the first 10 matches? The pressure falls on the shoulders of both these players now.