United and Liverpool Kickoff Summer Spending

 Blackburn's £16m
man Phil Jones

The first of many big transfers are set and ready to go already this summer, with both deals involving a title challenger for the coming year. As many of you will have seen already Liverpool and Manchester United have swooped early before the official opening of the English transfer window, putting up substantial sums of money to grab their men Jordan Henderson and Phil Jones respectively.

But wait..... shouldn't that be the other way around.

Maxi, Luca and Meireles were in
fine form at the close of last season.

Shouldn't United, with a starting back four of Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra and Fabio/Rafael, be focusing on strengthening the middle of the park, while Liverpool need to be thinking less about their midfield (which already contains Spearing, Meireles, Maxi Rodriguez, Lucas and a returning Gerrard) and more about the four men in front of keeper Pepe Reina?

I'm sure both Ferguson and Dalglish know exactly what they're doing when it comes to their own squads but the vast sums of money being paid for these two starlets (£20million for Henderson and around £16million for Jones) seem peculiar considering both are very young and neither will be filling a vital hole for either sides squad. In the words of Murray Hewitt (of Flight of the Conchords) “can't we do a flip around?”

Liverpool have been linked with over 20 players already this summer including the likes of Blackpool's Charlie Adam (who looks to be the next man arriving at Anfield) Newcastle left back Jose Enrique and Ipswich striker Connor Wickham, while United have been linked strongly with Aston Villa talent Ashley Young and Arsenal's Samir Nasri.

 Expect more of the same with high spending this summer as  Ferguson tries to build a side that can topple Barcelona's dominance on European football while Dalglish tries to bring together a squad that can reclaim the record for most league championships won.