Some people can let things go. Sir Alex Ferguson is not one of them. The United boss is still bitter over Real Madrid's capture of Cristiano Ronaldo and has had a few things to say over their summer dealings - albeit with a cheeky grin on his face.

"They will have plenty of problems with balance," he told the Independent. "I told Ronaldo before he flew out that he will end up playing centre-half because I don't think they have one. I don't envy (Real coach Manuel) Pellegrini picking his team. Barcelona are different because they have grown their squad properly and added one or two players each season."

Meanwhile the Daily Mirror are claiming that Owen Hargreaves has suffered another setback in his recovery from a long term knee complaint and could be out until Christmas. Although United are fairly used to playing without him..

United may have finished their spending, but City sure haven't. And it's Joleon Lescott on the radar next. The Daily Mirror (and almost everyone else) reckons that the Everton man will join along with Kolo Toure, to provide a platform for the various attacking players on show at Eastlands.

Elano's future looks unclear though, as AC and Inter Milan will do battle over the Brazilian, say the Sun. Seems like a good move for his career, but it could mean the end of Andrea Pirlo's stay at the San Siro - although the Daily Star have him moving to Chelsea anyway.

Not ones to do things by halves, the paper claim that it will cost £8.6m for Pirlo's move to London, plus striker Claudio Pizarro and defender Michael Mancienne would head to Italy in return. Although we smell a rat with that kind of link.

The Daily Mail think that Tottenham don't have enough strikers yet and should try and buy Middlesbrough's Tuncay Sanli.

The fact that Stuttgart have had a £9m bid already accepted shouldn't put them off, but the Daily Mirror claim that Harry Redknapp has already made an £8m-plus-player deal offer for Hull centre-half Michael Turner, with Pascal Chimbonda offered to Hull manager Phil Brown.

Newcastle's plight continues, as the Sun carry news that Alan Shearer will be back in his pundit chair and not in the hotseat at St James's at the start of the season. BBC frontman Gary Lineker says: "Shearer will be in the studio with us unless something dramatic happens.'' Dont worry Gary, we're not sure Newcastle have anything dramatic in them at the moment.

And finally, it's the last of the long-running transfer sagas, but the Daily Express seem to think that Xabi Alonso's move to Real Madrid could be almost done. Rafa will do well to get the £30m he wants, but it should all be done and dusted this weekend. We hope.