Man City are spending well, but not enough to be a consistent side. As for Adebayor, if he leaves Arsenal, i leave with him unless they bring in a replacement of similar quality. How a club can sell it's best players and not improve on them and hope to win trophies is madness for me.

I think Adebayor out and Huntelaar in would be an ideal situation for Arsenal. Even Beckham I hear in on d Man City radar!!

@Mani, i agree that cash is a stumbling block, but Arsenal can only get more cash by winning trophies. Many may not agree, but Adebayor's numbers speak for themselves, he was half committed and only scored 1 less goal than Van Persie in the league. Selling a prime asset and not getting an equivalent or improvement is a sign of lack of sporting ambition. It's a clear signal that financial concerns are superior to trophies, in that case, why devote so much emotional energy to watching your team play when they don't mean to get trophies, very hard to accept.

with Man City, they may seek to emulate Chelsea, but they dont understand that it took Chelsea almost ten years (from the days of Gullit) before Roman Abramovich purchased the club. if I was at Arsenal, id stick with these youngsters for another two seasons, max, before purchasing big names. that should be enough time to save lotsa cash, or enough playtime for today's youngsters to be sold at much higher price. who knows, maybe Messi or Aguero would wanna try the Emirates by then.

Besides, if Wenger do sign Chamakh for 8 mill, then Ade is replaced with still more cash to spend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGS45XzYew&feature=related

Haha, Mani you got me there on the BVB quip haha! You are right, the management talk about winning but paying 40% more than Utd-Chelsea-Liverpool and not having it reflected on the pitch means the should answer to the fans and tell us the truth instead of keeping quiet. @ Punkdunk, money is not the issue, sporting ambitions are, £25m is not a good deal when you consider Arsenal are selling to the richest club in the world, and Berbatov was sold for £31m. Which quality striker can be bought for £25m, when the only onesleft are only on sale for 'crazy prices', you don't win trophies selling your players so easily.

@Stanley: No offense re. Dortmund, but I could not resist making that comment :) And unfortunately and more than ever, money is the main issue for clubs.

@Stan: AC Milan's transfer activity clearly states that they are ambitious when it comes to balancing the books...Everything they do is intended to reduce the wage bill ...Generally speaking I am in favour of good finances, but I wouldn't be surprised if Milan's new strategy backfires and they miss out on the CL spot next season.

@Mani - I dont think City will get their hands on Alonso. City will continue to pick up some great players, but those great players will be in a certain situation (looking for a new club, not sure where their future lies). I'll use Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez as examples, but they can be joined by Robinho and Eto'o (if he was to join). Robinho was lured by the fact that he needed to leave Madrid and wasn't going to get his "dream" move to Chelsea. Barry was on his way out of Villa but his "dream" move to Liverpool never materialised. Tevez would, I am sure have preferred to stay at Utd, but for one reason or another, that didn't quite work out. And the same goes for Eto'o. That's why I don't think Alonso would move to City. He would move to Real, but if that doesn't happen, there is no reason for him to trade in Liverpool.