Certainly if Liverpool lose Suarez, they have a big goal getting shaped hole to fill and are likely to struggle in the 2013 / 2014 season. Liverpool are priced at odds of $18.00 to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League table next season. I think this is great value.

Manchester City are rumoured to be close to bringing Swedish Title magnet Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the Etihad. Ibrahimovich has a terrific record of winning titles, having won 9 titles at 6 clubs over 10 years in a run that goes: Ajax (2004), Juventus (2005), Juventus (2006), Internazionale (2007), Internazionale (2008), Internazionale (2009), Barcelona (2010), AC Milan (2011), Paris St-Germain (2013). A cut priced $28m price tag has been slapped on his head following PSG’s signing of Edinson Cavani from Napoli, and it seems Laurent Blance can’t get rid of Ibra quick enough. City are also in the running to sign Sevilla’s Alvaro Negredo and / or Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic in deals thought to be totalling $100m.

City are keenly priced at $3.10 to win the 2014 EPL, and with the amount of money they have already spent, plus the possible creation of an Aguero/Ibrahimovic/Negredo/Jovetic front line, represents a huge price and great value for money.

On the other side of Manchester, it seems like Manchester United are switching attention to trying to sign Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona as long time target Thiago Alcantara is on the verge of a move to Bayern Munich. To be honest I can’t see Barca letting both Thiago and Fabregas leave, that would leave them with an aging midfield, unless they have some targets up their sleeves. With Real Madrid already very active in the transfer market and all the news about Barcelona seemingly about losing players (David Villa, Thiago, Fabregas etc), this is one rumour that is just paper talk.

United are more likely to look to Germany to recruit some central midfield creativity, with Dortmund’s playmaker Marco Reus the likely target.

Alcantara’s imminent arrival at Bayern ushers another talented midfielder towards the exit sign. Xherdan Shaqiri is thought to be a target for Liverpool, in their desperate attempt to break into the Top 4. Liverpool have also confirmed that they have offered Steven Gerrard (86) a new 2 year contract. “Can Gerrard play on into his late 30s? Absolutely, no question about that” quoted Brendan Rogers “There will always be a need at Anfield for a player capable of pinging a football diagonally across a football pitch into the advertising hoardings” he didn’t add.

Here is a quick summary of other gossip and rumours:

PSG want Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in a deal that simply won’t happen.
QPR and Brazil main stopping man and horrendous spelling mistake Julio Cesar is going to Napoli on loan in a deal that very much will happen.
Newcastle want to sign Aston Villa’s Darren Bent in a $10m deal once Alan Pardew and Joe Kinnear decide whose Mont Blanc they are supposed to use.
Manchester City’s Pablo Zabeleta is on his way to Fiorentina in a deal which will leave the Premier League with one fewer players who sound like a nice coffee base Italian dessert.

Rooney can be backed at odds of $15.00 to finish as EPL top scorer, this is great value.

As previously reported, long time Chelsea target Edinson Cavani has decided he prefers the fluttering eyelids of Laurent Blanc to the romantic gestures of Jose Mourinho and has opted for a move to Even-Richer-Than-Chelsea-Paris-St-Germain (ERTCPSG). The fact that PSG have seemingly met Napoli’s $180m buy out clause might be another reason to move the Paris than London. So Chelsea have switch attention to 22 year old Christian Benteke for Aston Villa. Benteke joined Villa from Genk for $14m on a 4 year deal only last season, and finished with an impressive 19 EPL goals. It is understood the giant Belgian has handed in a transfer request and Chelsea is his most likely destination for c. $45m. A snip.

Chelsea are currently joint second favourites to win the 2013 EPL outright at odds of $3.10

Or / and Chelsea are lining up an $80m bid for Liverpool’s bite happy want away forward Luis Suarez. Suarez who believes the UK press is hounding him plans to solve the problem by moving from Liverpool to Madrid or Paris or seemingly London where it believed he has briefed his agent that a move to Chelsea would suffice. Yes that’s right Luis, you won’t get any press coverage in London, at a club that has had more than it’s fair share of racism and player behaviour problems. Suarez will at least feel at home playing alongside John Terry, John Terry, Eden Hazard and John Terry.

Quick round up of the rest of the gossip, along with our forecast as to whether it is likely to happen or not.

Manchester United will return with a slightly larger bid and secure the signature of Everton’s Leighton Baines, yawn. This is going to happen, fact.

Patrice Evra will get all shirty and leave United as a result of his place being put under threat, with Real Madrid, ERTCPSG or Monaco his destination. This will happen, he is a moody little fella and will probably end up back at money bags Monaco.

Real Madrid chief quote issuer Florentino Perez has stated that Cristiano Ronaldo will retire at Real Madrid, either Ronaldo needs to look out for flying tackles in training, or Perez believes the sunshine/world’s biggest club/$500,000 per week/working with Zidane formula is right for CR7. He is going nowhere, this season at least.

Barcelona have been told to do one by Barcelona fan Jose Mourinho when they came asking if David Luiz fancied playing out. Of all the clubs in all the world, the least likely Chelsea are to sell to is Barcelona. Conclusion: David Luiz is staying put.

The superbly named Julian (not that bit) Draxler (that bit) lately seen bossing the Schalke midfield is coming to the EPL with Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal (last resort on his behalf surely) fighting it out for his signature. Our verdict is a move is on the cards, and Draxler will be pulling on a blue shirt next season. Whether it is sky or darkish, we don’t know.

Little known, bit part Spurs player Gareth Bale is not going to Real Madrid. At least that is according to the aforementioned Madrid boss Florentino Perez who claims they have no interest in signing a really good player from a team they have a good relationship with. Hold on. Spurs and Real Madrid have a good relationship do they? Ok. Modric. I think Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has cocked this up. For all his blustering about not selling Bale at any price, and world record fees of $190m being bandied about, he has just talked himself and his club out of a monster pay day. Never mind that Bale is Spurs and they are a truly one man team. $190m buys you a good 4 or 5 players you need to play alongside new signing Paulinho to make the team very good indeed. Verdict. Bale to move to Manchester City or PSG on the last day of the transfer window for $100m as Spurs get desperate for the green backs.

And finally…the biggest news of the week is surely Usain Bolt to play for Manchester United. Bolt is tipped to turn out for his beloved reds in Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial against Sevilla on August 9th. That should be quite some wing speed. Hopefully he will be able to control the ball better than United’s last ‘super-fast-next-big-thing-flying-winger’ David Bellion…..

Tottenham are currently priced at odds of $18.00 to finish in the bottom 10 for EPL 2013 / 2014, so if you think Bale will be sold, get on this price before it tumbles. Rarely can a top 6 team have been so reliant on one player.

Chelsea and Manchester United appear to be fighting it out as to who gets to spend $100m on Edinson Cavani and who gets to spend $60m on Robert Lewandowski. United who have been liked with Robert Lewandowski since about 1996 it seems, are still favourites to land the big Pole, however Cavani’s Wayne Rooney like work ethic could be attracting David Moyes. Cavani also brings a lot more hair to United’s front line than either Lewandowski or Rooney. Our tips are: Cavani to Real Madrid and Lewandowski to Manchester United.

If you fancy a United / Chelsea Dual Forecast for 1st and 2nd in EPL 2013 / 2014 (we do) you can grab odds of $3.60 which we recommend you do before their cheque books open and their prices start falling.

One player almost certain to be at Manchester United next season is Everton’s Leighton Baines, with United having a $24m feeler bid rejected, it is only going to be one transfer request and $30m to seal the deal. Baines brings some dead ball expertise United have missed since Ronaldo and an offensive full back approach they haven’t had since, well erm, Evra.

And finally a no-more-than-10-words-per-sentence round up of the rest of the gossip.

Rooney will remain at Old Trafford, central to Moyes’ plans
Real Madrid to sell Higuain to either Arsenal or Juventus
Everton fancy a new Honda, Keisuke from CSKA Moscow.
Paulinho is on his way to Tottenham from Corinthians
Liverpool’s Reina is going to move to Barcelona

Chelsea are rumoured to be in negotiations with Galatasaray to reunite Wesley Sneijder with his former boss Jose Mourinho. This would represent a great signing for Chelsea and give them a natural goal scoring replacement for the aging Frank Lampard. I think this rumour has real legs, no offence to Galatasaray, but Sneijder is still one of the best midfielders in the world and should be playing in the EPL.

Chelsea are attractively priced at odds of $3.20 to win the EPL, and given the Mourinho effect and the likelihood of them signing a raft of new players in the summer, this is a cracking bet.

Arsene Wenger has admitted it would be ‘impossible’ to turn down the chance to sign Wayne Rooney, however we are confident he won’t get the chance. Whilst Manchester United won’t consider Arsenal genuine title rivals anymore, they won’t be keen to sell to another EPL club. Plus Rooney won’t be overly interested in playing for a team that still have to qualify for the Champions League we don’t reckon. Chances of this one happening? None. However….

Arsenal are heavily linked with a ove for Swansea City’s mercurial attacking midfielder / striker Michu and this rumour makes much more sense all round. I think this one has legs.

Arsenal are currently listed as $1.90 to finish outside the EPL Top 4 next season. I think that is a rather decent bet.

And finally, Liverpool seem to be keen on Shakhtar Donetsk’s Armenia international striker Henrikh Mkhitaryan and are apparently not put off by the likey $50m valuation of him. Of who? Exactly. To be fair to Henrikh Mkhitaryan he has scored a record 25 goals in the Ukranian league this term. I hope this one comes to fruition, just to hear the various ways the pundits will try and pronounce his name.