James Milner, Paul Merson, t-shirt winners and maybe a rumour or two

Half the clubs in the Premier League now have new players for this coming season and with Lerner telling us funds are available, just not as much as last summer, you've got to fancy we're going to be bringing players in fairly soon.

But this isn't about when it's going to happen or the rumours that we are linked to 21 year old Brazilian wonderkid Taison or we're leading the chase for Middlesbrough attacking midfielder, winger and striker Tuncay Sanli.

I'm also not going to really look into the reports in Portugal that suggest us, Arsenal, Bolton and Manchester City will be holding talks with Miguel Veloso, the defensive central midfielder currently playing for Sporting. I don't actually care that he is 23 years old or that we have two players that can play that position that Martin O'Neill has purchased, so I'm going to leave it as pure speculation and just discard it for now.

I'm also not going to look at the rumour in The Sun that we are willing to pay £5mn. for Espanyol striker Luis Garcia, because it is just all speculation. No, this post is about James Milner, Paul Merson and five t-shirt winners.

Did anyone see the England U21 match last night? Milner looked decent and had a couple of moments when he looked really good and his crossing looked better.

It wasn't great crossing but it was better and if that is him developing, then great. He should go off and have a couple of weeks holiday now before getting back to pre-season and if he develops further this season, we should hopefully see a better Milner next season and hopefully some better crossing and a little more trickery.

But that is Milner. On the other side we have Ashley Young and up front we have Gabby and both players were getting a bit praise from Paul Merson recently. I like Paul Merson and I like that he has a lot of positive things to say about all the clubs he has played at.

Paul Merson
Gabby and Ashley are so exciting to watch. I appreciate it’s a team game but they were a huge part in the success last season. They were absolutely outstanding. They both have so much youthful enthusiasm and are blessed with masses of pace. Gabby will get better and better and he works very hard on his game.

As for Ashley, I can’t speak highly enough of him. He’s different class. I think he should be a regular with England.

Right, before I go, if your user name on the site is Shane Fortune, woodinho, Steveo, testie or Payno you need to click on that link in the top menu that says 'contact' and send me message with the match t-shirt you want, your size and your address.

If you are unsure which match t-shirt you want, don't forget to visit Soccerprint for some inspiration as they are the guys giving them away.