Having smashed the piggy bank, searched down the back of the sofa and found a fiver in the inside pocket of a dusty old summer jacket, the Mill is proud to reveal that we have a summer war chest of £6.76. Not the biggest figure admittedly but we thought we'd join in with everyone else in showing our hand before the bidding begins in June. Much like wantaway Blackburn striker Jason Roberts, the Mill doesn't like to feel left out.
First to join the Mill in writing a figure on a scrap of paper and showing it to the bank manager are Chelsea, who will come to the summer armed with the nice round figure of £100m. Who will that buy them? In order of preference: Kaka, Lionel Messi, Rafael van der Vaart, Rodrigo Palacio and finally David Villa. Not very confident of getting your first choice then, Roman?
Next up waving their cash around like a mid-Eighties trader are Sunderland, who will again be scouring the Man Utd reserve team with £40m in their back pockets this summer. Or £32m, once you deduct the £8m that they will be spending on Stephen Ireland.
Man Utd don't have the money of Sunderland (who does?), so expect them to put just £37m aside for their spending spree. And expect that to get them Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho of Sporting, and Wilson Palacios and Luis Antonio Valencia of Wigan. Wheeling and dealing like Arthur Daley, Wigan will then take this money and use it to bid £5m for Fulham's Diomansy Kamara, who also has Sevilla on his tail.
Among all these garish displays of wealth, spare a thought for poor old Alan Curbishley, who has opened his war chest and found 6d and an IOU to Lucas Neill for £80,000-a-week. He only has one option, to sell before he can buy, so expect Neill, Kieron Dyer and Freddie Ljungberg to be on prominent display in the Upton Park club shop window this June.
And finally, Liverpool haven't got enough quite-good-but-not-quite-great midfielders and are hoping to add Gareth Barry to their ranks for £12m while Benfica agree with Walter Smith about Gordon Strachan being really great and want him as their next manager. School's out, the summer starts here.
